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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22487503">The Light of the Vampire</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dejiko001/pseuds/dejiko001'>dejiko001</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Vampire, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/M, Mystery, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Romance, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow To Update</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2016-03-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 14:40:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>19,333</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22487503</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dejiko001/pseuds/dejiko001</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Shinichi Kudo, Heiji Hattori, and Kaito Kuroba respectively transfer to Teitan High School, Kaihou Academy, and Ekoda High School, the lives of Ran Mouri, Kazuha Toyama, and Aoko Nakamori are turned upside down.</p><p>ShinRan, HeiKazu, and KaiAo.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hattori Heiji &amp; Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan, Hattori Heiji &amp; Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid, Hattori Heiji/Tooyama Kazuha, Koizumi Akako &amp; Nakamori Aoko, Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan &amp; Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid, Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan/Mouri Ran, Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid/Nakamori Aoko, Momoi Keiko &amp; Nakamori Aoko, Mouri Ran &amp; Suzuki Sonoko</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Transfer Students</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><b><span class="u">Disclaimer:</span></b> I don't own <i>Detective Conan/Case Closed</i> and <i>Magic Kaito</i> and any of the characters used in this fanfic.</p><p>The original publication date of this fanfic is 5/23/2010. The publication date of this rewritten version is 3/27/2016.</p><p>Chapter 1 was originally posted on FanFiction.Net (FFN). Chapters 2 and above will be cross-posted on FFN and AO3.</p>
    </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi, everyone! If you just stumbled upon this fanfic, it means that you're a new reader. If you did not, it means that you most likely knew about this fanfic way before I posted this rewritten first chapter. In that case, I thank you for your support for this fanfic in the past and your patience for this rewritten version.</p><p>Before you dive into reading the rewritten version of <i>The Light of the Vampire</i>, I want to clarify some things first.</p><p>In the original version, the fanfic was rated as T because things were much more innocent. However, I will be boosting the rating to M as a result of what I have in mind for future chapters. If you feel intimidated by this rating, you are free to flee right now.</p><p>I'd also like to mention that this fanfic has and always will be AU, which stands for Alternate Universe, so please keep that in mind as you read it. I don't want to give too much away about what I've changed from canon because they will be revealed as the fanfic progresses, but I will say that the biggest change would be that ShinRan, HeiKazu, and KaiAo are not childhood friends.</p><p>Now, I'd like to talk about the history of this fanfic and why I decided to rewrite it.</p><p><i>The Light of the Vampire</i> was inspired by a ShinRan picture that my friend, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/chocolafied">chocolafied</a>, showed to me and another friend of mine, who went by the alias/nickname, Elika. In that picture, Shinichi was depicted as a vampire while Ran was depicted as a human. Not long afterward, both knew how inspired I was to write a fanfic based on the idea of Shinichi as a vampire, so when I was trying to come up with a good title for this fanfic, Elika told me to call it, <i>The Light of the Vampire</i>. Since I liked the title she came up with, I went with it.</p><p>While chocolafied created pictures of vampire Shinichi on her old DeviantArt account and Elika ran the ShinRanF-C on DeviantArt with chocolafied, I worked on the original version of this fanfic. The original version was posted on 5/23/2010, and the last time I updated it was 1/31/2012. I stopped updating <i>The Light of the Vampire</i> back then because I realized that the plotline moved too slow, the chapters were too short, and my writing was terrible. I was close to deleting this fanfic, but after the amount of support I had gotten, even after I stopped updating it, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I felt determined to do something about it, but I couldn't see myself picking it back up again, so sometime between 2013 to 2014, I decided to rewrite it.</p><p>The day I have posted this rewritten first chapter is 3/27/2016. As you can tell, rewriting this fanfic took a long time for me because I wanted to plan it out carefully and accordingly. Since I decided to rewrite this fanfic, I have also changed some things around. For instance, the original fanfic was going to focus mostly on ShinRan, but I have decided to make this fanfic center around ShinRan, HeiKazu, and KaiAo equally. I also decided that chapters will be at least 9,000 words, where about 3,000 words would focus on each main pairing. However, there is a chance that future chapters will vary in length.</p><p>If you read my entire author's note, then I thank you. I hope all of you will enjoy this rewritten version of <i>The Light of the Vampire</i>. I will do my best to make this fanfic a fantastic journey not just for you, but for me as well.</p><p>With that said, enjoy.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"You've <em>got</em> to be kidding me."</p><p>"Nope."</p><p>"Sonoko…"</p><p>"Hey, I heard this guy was hot, okay?"</p><p>Ran groaned. "I already know where <em>this</em> is heading…"</p><p>"Oh, well, then, that makes everything easier—"</p><p>"No."</p><p>"Ran—"</p><p>"No means no, Sonoko."</p><p>"But, <em>Ran</em>—"</p><p>Loud squealing came from the doorway as a girl burst into the classroom. "HE'S HERE, HE'S HERE, AND OH, MY GOD, <em>HE'S HEEEEEEEEERE!</em>"</p><p>Almost immediately, every girl in the classroom, except for Ran and Sonoko, started heading to the doorway, and their squealing and giggling filled the entire room.</p><p>Ran couldn't help but wince at their loud squealing. She glanced around to see that even the <em>guys</em> were cringing. Some of them were haughty enough to already start badmouthing whoever the girls were squealing about; the rest of them shrugged it off nonchalantly since this sort of reaction was expected. Apparently, she and Sonoko were the only girls who <em>weren't</em> screaming like banshees.</p><p>Yeah, Ran Mouri didn't care. For the past week, she heard the various whispers about the new transfer student because he was apparently some amazing detective, even though he was only a high schooler. Compared to most of the girls at her school, she didn't care that much about this new transfer student. She had seen him on the news and in newspapers, but since she didn't know the guy at all, she didn't really care that much about him. She was more preoccupied with other things in her life than to think about becoming some fan of a high school detective. His fan base seemed fairly large at her school, so she was aware that most of the girls had a thing for him, but <em>this</em> was just over the line.</p><p>Ran then glanced at Sonoko, who snickered at the girls' squealing.</p><p>"You got competition," Sonoko mouthed.</p><p>Ran sighed as she shook her head. Sometimes, she never understood what went on in her mischievous, conniving best friend's mind.</p><p>"All right, all right, <em>all right!</em>"</p><p>Ran snapped her head towards the front to find that her teacher had just entered the room.</p><p>He started shooing the girls to their desks. When they finally dispersed after whining, the teacher cleared his throat.</p><p>"He's <em>so</em> gonna introduce the new kid," Sonoko whispered.</p><p>Ran shushed her.</p><p>Sonoko snickered in response.</p><p>When the giggling and soft squealing finally came to a halt, the teacher cleared his throat again. "Class, we have a new student." He motioned to the doorway. "You may come in now."</p><p>Ran could've sworn that all of her female classmates' breathing hitched as the doorway so <em>painfully</em> and <em>slowly</em> opened. She was just about to look away when in walked the talk of the school: the transfer student.</p><p>Even Ran couldn't help but stare. The news and newspapers definitely showed how handsome he was, but those paled in comparison to seeing him in person. His dark brown hair, olive complexion, and royal blue eyes were enough to send the <em>entire</em> room into silence.</p><p>He had that nonchalant expression, and his hands were shoved into the pockets of his blazer. The way he stood practically showed his silent, commanding personality. His eyes were the definite dead ringer, though; they were enough to say that he just didn't give a damn.</p><p>And Ran knew well enough that good-looking guys who didn't care about anything were ranked <em>very</em> high on the doable guys list at their high school, which she heard from Sonoko <em>against</em> her will.</p><p>"That guy's <em>totally</em> your type," Sonoko mouthed.</p><p>Ran sent her a small glare of disapproval.</p><p>"Introduce yourself, please," the teacher said.</p><p>The transfer student stared at everyone before nodding his head and turning around to face the board. After writing his name, he turned back around and looked at everyone with a composed gaze.</p><p>At this point, it was very obvious to anyone that almost every girl wanted to hear his voice.</p><p>"It's nice to meet all of you," the transfer student said. "My name is Shinichi Kudo, and I'll be joining your class from here on out. I hope we'll get along well during my time here."</p><p>"Thank you, Kudo-san," the teacher said. "Your seat's behind Mouri-san's. Mouri-san, raise your hand, please."</p><p>Ran was tempted to hide her head behind the student in front of her, but when she glanced out of the corner of her eye to see Sonoko grin, she sighed in defeat and raised her hand. She knew how persistent her friend was about setting her up with someone, and it definitely looked like Sonoko wasn't going to give up the possibility of setting her up with the transfer student.</p><p>Before Ran could think any more about it, she sensed the dirty, envious looks she received from almost every girl in the room, but she paid them no heed. If anything, she was looking forward to talking to Sonoko once class was over, especially now that she had to convince Sonoko to give up that silly idea of her and Shinichi getting together. It was at that moment that she finally took notice of Shinichi walking towards her.</p><p>Shinichi's posture was straight. His hands were still tucked inside his pockets, and his eyes matched the frown on his face, which led to one expression: complete, utter boredom. The expression on his face made it seem like no one was worth his time, and yet, the majority of the girls thought otherwise. Despite all of these features, Ran still couldn't help but admit that he was <em>really</em> handsome. In fact, those eyes of his were just so…<em>mesmerizing</em> that a part of her couldn't help but feel a bit hypnotized into staring at him.</p><p>When he finally passed her, Ran was relieved that he didn't even look at her. She realized just then that she had <em>stared</em> at him as he walked to his desk, and it'd be embarrassing if he actually stared back at her. However, a large part of her was curious about Shinichi Kudo the <em>student</em>, not Shinichi Kudo the <em>detective.</em> The year just started, and it was spring, which was warm as always. However, it was <em>really</em> early in the year for him to transfer to her school.</p><p>Of course, her observation of him went unnoticed because Ran sensed the glares from almost every girl in the room. She then glanced at Sonoko, who grinned mischievously at her.</p><p>Ran let out a small sigh.</p><p>Was it too much to want this day over with already?</p>
<hr/><p>"Hey, did you hear about that second-year transfer student?"</p><p>"Oh, my God, <em>yes.</em> He's <em>so</em>—"</p><p>"Dreamy?"</p><p>Ran raised an eyebrow at this. The transfer student? Dreamy? Sure, he was handsome, but nothing about him was "dreamy." The guy was practically silent for the entire day, and every girl who was smitten with him kept babbling on about his looks. For crying out loud, even the <em>third-years </em>were swooning over him, and <em>none</em> of them would even bother to give underclassmen a chance.</p><p>"Someone sounds <em>jealous</em>," Sonoko sang.</p><p>Ran rolled her eyes at Sonoko as she drank from her iced tea. The two were at a café after school ended, and unfortunately for Ran, she had to deal with the girls at her high school who came to this café as well.</p><p>"He's so mysterious, too!"</p><p>"Oh, I <em>know.</em> It just adds to his dreaminess."</p><p>Ran shook her head in exasperation at those comments about Shinichi.</p><p>"Oh, someone's <em>totally</em> jealous," Sonoko muttered.</p><p>"<em>Sonoko</em>," Ran warned.</p><p>Sonoko grinned. "Oh, come on, you're not the <em>least</em> bit interested in the guy?"</p><p>"No, I'm not."</p><p>"But he's Hottie McHotster!"</p><p>Ran shot her a puzzled look until she let out a laugh when she realized that Sonoko gave Shinichi a nickname. "What about you? You keep talking about him, too."</p><p>Sonoko snorted. "Ran, <em>please.</em> My taste in men is <em>very</em> high."</p><p>"You swoon easily over any older hot guy you see," Ran deadpanned.</p><p>"Because they're older, hot, and <em>single</em><em>.</em> Duh!"</p><p>Ran rolled her eyes as she smiled.</p><p>"Okay, look, the point is, you got to get in the game. <em>Seriously.</em> Sixteen, and you have no love life."</p><p>Ran sighed. "Sonoko—"</p><p>"No excuses out of this one, Ran. I saw the way you were checking him out this morning."</p><p>Ran blinked. "What?"</p><p>Sonoko hummed softly as she wiggled her eyebrows and sang, "I saw you, Ran. You were <em>totally</em> checking him out."</p><p>"I was <em>looking</em> at him."</p><p>"No, you mean <em>checking</em> him out."</p><p>Ran groaned before she laughed and smiled. "I'm <em>not</em> having this conversation with you."</p><p>"Oh, <em>come on</em>, I can set the two of you up!"</p><p>Ran sent her a small playful glare. "I said no this morning, didn't I? Remember all those times you tried to set me up on those blind dates?"</p><p>"Hey, they were all great guys—"</p><p>Ran gave her a skeptical look. "Oh, yeah, until they tried grabbing me in <em>certain</em> places."</p><p>"Hey, hey, I didn't think they'd do that, okay?" Sonoko replied with an apologetic look.</p><p>"I know, I know. It's not your fault, okay?"</p><p>Sonoko frowned. "No, it is—"</p><p>"Hey, you didn't know, so don't blame yourself," Ran interrupted as she sent her a stern gaze before she smiled. "Besides, I took care of them when they tried to pull something on me, anyway."</p><p>"I'm sorry, Ran…"</p><p>"Sonoko, I said it was okay—"</p><p>"Great!" Sonoko interrupted with a grin on her face. "So, you'll let me set you up with him?"</p><p>Ran sighed in exasperation. "Okay, just how long are you going to bother me about this?"</p><p>"Until the day you get a boyfriend." Sonoko paused. "Or girlfriend."</p><p>Ran let out a laugh. "Sonoko, you know I'm straight."</p><p>"Like a line."</p><p>Ran snickered. "You're being ridiculous, you know that?"</p><p>"And yet, you love me, anyway," Sonoko sang. She paused before asking, "So, how's it going at home?"</p><p>Ran blinked a few times. "It's the same as always."</p><p>Sonoko frowned. "Again?"</p><p>Ran nodded slowly before shrugging. "Can't help it."</p><p>"Yeah, but—"</p><p>"It can't be helped, Sonoko," Ran replied, and she paused before she said quietly, "I'm used to it, anyway."</p><p>Sonoko continued to frown. "You can come over to my place and sleep over, if you want."</p><p>"Knowing you, you'd keep me up all night about God knows what."</p><p>"Well, <em>duh.</em>"</p><p>Ran snickered. "No thanks."</p><p>"Aw, it'd be fun, though!"</p><p>"Sonoko, I can't stay over on a school night."</p><p>"Sure, you can! I have spare toothbrushes, spare beds, and spare rooms—"</p><p>"Sonoko."</p><p>"And, you know, we can stay up late and talk about <em>anything</em>, or we can help each other on homework—"</p><p>"<em>Sonoko.</em>"</p><p>Sonoko sighed in defeat. "Okay, okay, <em>fine</em><em>.</em>"</p><p>Ran rolled her eyes as she smiled.</p><p>"But I still think the two of you totally make a good match."</p><p>"Sonoko!"</p><p>"Just saying!"</p><p>"Why are you so keen on that?"</p><p>"Because I want to see the look on every girl's face when they find out that Hottie McHotster Transfer Student, Shinichi Kudo, has fallen for none other than Miss Karate Captain, Ran Mouri!"</p><p>"<em>Former</em> karate captain," Ran corrected.</p><p>"Same difference! You know karate either way!" Sonoko paused and added softly, "Don't you miss being in the karate club, though?"</p><p>Ran stared at Sonoko before muttering, "You know very well what my answer is."</p><p>"I guess. But, still—"</p><p>"<em>Sonoko.</em>"</p><p>"Okay, okay, fine, but…are you okay?" Sonoko paused and said in a softer tone, "About what happened, I mean."</p><p>"Yeah, I've already gotten over it."</p><p>Sonoko frowned before asking softly, "Really?"</p><p>Ran stared at her iced tea for a while before she looked at Sonoko. "Yeah. Really."</p>
<hr/><p>"I'm home," Ran sang as she entered her house. The minute she closed the door behind her, she waited for a response.</p><p>Nothing.</p><p>Ran sighed as she went up the stairs and into her room. She threw her backpack towards some corner of the room, and just as soon as she was about to plop down on her bed, she heard the door to the house open.</p><p>Her eyes widened. Before she knew it, she was already rushing out of the room and towards the door. The moment she arrived, she saw <em>his</em> shoes. A grin slowly made its way to her face, and she couldn't help but jump for joy. Just as soon as she ran into the kitchen, she found <em>him</em> at the fridge.</p><p>"Dad!"</p><p>Kogoro turned his head and grinned. "Ran."</p><p>Ran couldn't help but giggle softly as she came over. "Are you hungry? I'll make you something to eat."</p><p>Kogoro shook his head as he took out a can of beer.</p><p>Ran frowned, and she snatched the can from his hands.</p><p>"Hey!"</p><p>"Dad, the doctor told you <em>multiple</em> times that you need to lighten up on your drinking!"</p><p>"Oh, come on, Ran! It's just <em>one</em> can—"</p><p>"Have you even eaten?" Ran interrupted.</p><p>"I did!"</p><p>She frowned even more as she raised an eyebrow. "Oh? How long ago?"</p><p>Kogoro contemplated for a bit, and he cast a sheepish glance in the other direction.</p><p>"<em>Dad.</em>"</p><p>He hummed softly as he grinned sheepishly. "Maybe an hour ago?"</p><p>"<em>Dad!</em>"</p><p>"Okay, okay, I think it may have been two or three hours ago."</p><p>"You <em>think?</em>"</p><p>Kogoro shrugged in response.</p><p>"Well, I can make you something right now!" Ran exclaimed with a smile.</p><p>Just as Kogoro was going to respond, he yawned instead and headed to his room. "No, actually, I'll head off to bed."</p><p>Ran frowned. "But…"</p><p>Kogoro stopped in his tracks, and he turned around to look at his daughter. "But what?"</p><p>Ran stared at him as she took in his appearance: disheveled clothes and dark eye bags. It was clear that he pulled continuous all-nighters <em>again</em><em>.</em></p><p>"What is it?" Kogoro asked.</p><p>Ran shook her head. "No. Nothing. Never mind."</p><p>Kogoro raised an eyebrow, but he shrugged it off and headed to his room.</p><p>As soon as Ran heard the door to his room shut, she sighed and put the can of beer back in the fridge. She subconsciously glanced at the large kitchen table that was just meters away from the counter. Her eyes lingered on its sleek top for a while as she imagined her younger self and her father sitting there, just chatting and eating her food away. Right next to her side, she could even see the outline of…</p><p>She turned around to face the stove, and she couldn't help but sigh. "May as well make myself something to eat, I guess."</p>
<hr/><p>Shinichi stared at the night sky from his bedroom window. When he heard his phone vibrate continuously on the bedside table, he let out a sigh. He snatched his phone and looked at the caller ID. Afterward, he frowned and picked up the call.</p><p>"Shinichi, my awesome cousin, how did your first day of school go?"</p><p>"Amazing," Shinichi replied in a sarcastic tone.</p><p>"Great! You get any leads so far?"</p><p>"Kaito, it's only been a day. Do you really think I'd be able to solve this in <em>just</em> a day?"</p><p>"Says the guy who's solved the most difficult cases within a couple of hours."</p><p>"This isn't a homicide case, Kaito," Shinichi deadpanned.</p><p>"Considering how people have died already, Kudo, I'd say this <em>is</em> a homicide case," Shinichi heard someone else say.</p><p>Shinichi blinked as he processed the voice in his head for a few seconds. "Hattori, is that you?"</p><p>"Heiji Hattori, at your service!" Heiji replied.</p><p>"I figured it'd be easier with all of us communicating this way since Hattori's all the way in Osaka," Kaito said.</p><p>Shinichi let out a small sigh. "Well, it does make things easier on my end. I was just about to tell the two of you some news."</p><p>"News?" Kaito and Heiji responded in unison.</p><p>"Yeah," Shinichi replied as he looked out the window again. "The two of you will each be transferring to a new school tomorrow."</p><p>"<em>What?!</em>"</p><p>Shinichi rolled his eyes. "You heard me."</p><p>"Hey, hey, hey, Kudo, you can't just do that!" Heiji exclaimed.</p><p>"Yeah, what's this deal about transferring schools, anyway?" Kaito whined. "I mean, think of what I have to leave behind!"</p><p>"The least you could've done is tell us this sooner! Why now?!"</p><p>Ignoring their outbursts, Shinichi said, "The two of you should've gotten a package earlier today. Inside the package will be your school uniform. Heiji will be going to Kaihou Academy, and Kaito will be going to Ekoda High School."</p><p>"What?! Ekoda?! Oh, come on, man! <em>Why?!</em>" Kaito exclaimed.</p><p>"Hold on," Heiji stated as Kaito continued to complain in the background. "Kudo, are you trying to get us to cover more ground?"</p><p>At once, Kaito stopped whining. "Wait. 'Ground?' What?"</p><p>Heiji sighed in annoyance. "You really don't get it, Kuroba?"</p><p>Before the two of them could speak, Shinichi said, "The homicides, Kaito. We need to figure out who's targeting the victims as soon as possible. So far, we've only found one common thing between all of them." He paused as he stared at the street lights. "And we all know that it can't be <em>just</em> a coincidence."</p><p>"But we'll be risking our lives," Kaito whined.</p><p>"Says the guy who performs all of those stealing heists."</p><p>"Hey, hey, hey, you know that I have a <em>very</em> good reason for that!"</p><p>Shinichi sighed. "Yes, yes, we know. But the fact of the matter is that what we're dealing with something that's a lot more dangerous than your stealing heists, Kaito."</p><p>"Oh, yeah, and this is coming from someone who deals with murderers," Kaito retorted.</p><p>Shinichi rolled his eyes. "Anyway, unless the two of you transfer, then there's no way that we'll be able to cover enough ground. I managed to narrow down the possible areas to these three schools, but I can't cover all of them at once. I mean, one of them's in Osaka, for crying out loud. I can't go back and forth between Tokyo and Osaka."</p><p>Heiji let out a sigh. "You know, I already had my suspicions about Kaihou, but next time, at least warn me before doing something like, oh, I don't know, transferring me to another school and not telling me about it until <em>now!</em>"</p><p>"Waaaaaaait, wait, wait, wait, why do <em>I</em> have to go to Ekoda?" Kaito exclaimed as Heiji started grumbling curses in the background.</p><p>Shinichi frowned. "Kaito, I <em>just</em> said that I can't cover all three schools—"</p><p>"Yeah, but Ekoda's near Teitan, isn't it?" Kaito whined. "Come on, cut me some slack! Think of all of the ladies I'm leaving behind here at our school!"</p><p>"Forget about them, will you?"</p><p>"But—"</p><p>"You don't have a chance with any of them."</p><p>Kaito feigned a gasp.</p><p>"You never had, and you never will."</p><p>"Okay, <em>ow.</em>"</p><p>"Kudo has a point," Heiji said. "It's not like you were going out with any of them, anyway."</p><p>"Again, <em>ow!</em> What is this? Gang Up on Kaito Day?"</p><p>Shinichi rolled his eyes.</p><p>"Besides, the girls at our school are <em>gorgeous</em>—"</p><p>"Kaito, I'm sure you'll find gorgeous women at Ekoda," Shinichi interrupted.</p><p>Kaito snorted and grumbled, "Yeah, right."</p><p>Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "Anyway, let me know how things go tomorrow."</p><p>"Whoa, wait, Shinichi—"</p><p>"If anything comes up, let me know immediately. Later."</p><p>"Shinichi, wait—"</p><p>At once, Shinichi hung up, and he sighed. "This plan better work."</p>
<hr/><p>"Hey, you don't think that's…?"</p><p>"No… No, it couldn't be him!"</p><p>"B-But, he looks <em>just</em> like him!"</p><p>"Will you two shush already? He might hear us!"</p><p>Heiji said nothing as the whispers continued. He knew that people were definitely staring at him—not to mention the fact that he could hear every single bit they said—but he decided not to make a fuss out of it for now. He did wish that he had something to hide his face from the crowd, though. A part of him couldn't help but wonder how on Earth he was going to investigate the homicides because people started to recognize him the second he stepped onto the school grounds. No one had confronted him yet if he was indeed Heiji Hattori, but he supposed it was due to his height. Judging by the majority of the students' heights, he towered over nearly everyone.</p><p>He walked into the school as casually as possible, but when he did, he saw that people who had entered the school beforehand paused at what they were doing, whether it was chatting with their friends or putting on their indoor shoes. After he slipped on his own pair, which he brought to school, he did his best to pay no heed as he walked past the shoe lockers, but he felt rather uncomfortable knowing that <em>everyone</em> in the room stopped to stare at him. It wasn't long before he heard even more whispers about him in the hallway, and yet, no one still bothered to say anything to his face.</p><p>If he wasn't in a rush to find the faculty office, he probably would've snapped at them already with a rude remark. He didn't really know what class he was going to be in or what subjects he was going to take, but he figured that the sooner he arrived, the better. Thankfully, it didn't take long for him to find the office. When he approached the door, he heard voices.</p><p>"<em>Please!</em>"</p><p>"I'm sorry, Toyama-san, but unless I see concrete evidence—"</p><p>"But that <em>was</em> concrete evidence!"</p><p>"Toyama-san, I understand you're upset, but it can't be done."</p><p>"But—"</p><p>"<em>I'm sorry.</em>"</p><p>Heiji hadn't realized that he was so close to the door when he heard footsteps approaching the doorway. However, before he could back away from the door, someone else slid it open from the other side.</p><p>That person was none other than a brunette. She looked rather frustrated, but she was so caught up in her emotions that she actually bumped into him.</p><p>Heiji hadn't budged from the mild collision, but the girl looked like she was going to fall backward. He was going to catch her, but she managed to steady herself.</p><p>"Hey, you all right?" Heiji asked as he raised an eyebrow.</p><p>"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied as she shook her head. When she finally looked up at his face, her eyes widened.</p><p>He wasn't surprised at her reaction, since he guessed that she must've recognized him as the rest of the school did. However, at that very moment, he felt <em>something</em> from this girl, and he took this amount of time to study her as he narrowed his eyes.</p><p>She looked at the floor and cleared her throat. "Sorry about that. I'll, um, be going now."</p><p>Heiji opened his mouth to say something—<em>anything,</em> in fact—to get her to stay for a bit, so he could figure out that nagging feeling he had about her, but she already dashed to the stairs. His eyes followed and lingered on her—this mysterious girl that he didn't know—as she ran up the stairs.</p><p>Heiji frowned, but he decided to shrug it off as he headed into the faculty office.</p>
<hr/><p>"All right, please introduce yourself," the teacher said.</p><p>Heiji nodded. "Hello, everyone. I'm Heiji Hattori, and—"</p><p>"Oh, my God, no way! You're that high school detective!" a girl shouted.</p><p>"No wonder you looked so familiar!" a guy exclaimed. "Aw, man, I knew I recognized you from somewhere!"</p><p>At once, the entire classroom was in complete chaos over Heiji's arrival. Heiji expected this, of course, but he still felt a certain amount of pride in him soar as his classmates began to chatter about his arrival. When the teacher began yelling at the students to calm down, Heiji noticed a person who wasn't in a complete uproar.</p><p>His eyes widened in realization when he saw that it was the same girl from this morning. For some reason, her eyes were kept glued to her desk. Was she purposely ignoring his gaze? He continued to stare at her, and it wasn't long until she finally lifted her head and noticed that he was looking at her.</p><p>The next thing he knew, her cheeks grew pink.</p><p>"All right, Hattori-san, you will sit in that empty seat," the teacher said.</p><p>Apparently, that empty seat was next to that girl from this morning.</p><p>Heiji nodded, and as he walked to his seat, the teacher began to lecture. When he sat down, he glanced to his right.</p><p>The girl seemed to pay no heed to him and was immersed in the lecture.</p><p>Once again, that nagging familiar feeling began to bother him.</p><p>Just who <em>was</em> this girl?</p>
<hr/><p>Kaito glared at the building in front of him.</p><p>Ekoda High School.</p><p>He was <em>actually</em> standing in front of Ekoda High School.</p><p>Then, he let out a sigh.</p><p>Why did Shinichi have to involve him in this? Sure, Kaito said he'd help out, but he meant that he would help through his heists, not something like <em>this</em><em>.</em> This was just <em>completely</em> over the line.</p><p>"Oh, my God, <em>no!</em>"</p><p>"Yes!"</p><p>"You're totally lying to me, aren't you?"</p><p>"I'm not! I swear!"</p><p>Kaito turned his head to see two teenage girls giggling as they walked inside the building, and he let out a sigh of frustration. He walked into the school, and he looked around to see that everyone was taking off their regular shoes and putting on their indoor shoes at their shoe lockers. He brought his old pair from his previous school, so he quickly slipped into those. He was going to put his regular shoes into a shoe locker, but now that he thought about it, all of the shoe lockers were designed to a certain student, so he shouldn't have one… Not yet, at least.</p><p>He sighed as he realized that he'd have to find the faculty office first before doing anything else. He walked past the shoe lockers, still carrying his regular shoes, and he looked around again, but to no avail. He still couldn't spot the faculty office. He then turned around, and he saw that all of the students were gone.</p><p>He took out his phone and checked the time.</p><p>There were about five minutes left before classes would start.</p><p>Kaito frowned. "Great. <em>Just</em> great."</p><p>Just then, a girl ran inside the building and headed to her shoe locker.</p><p>Kaito noticed her, and he walked to the girl as she rushed to put on her indoor shoes. "Uh, excuse me—"</p><p>"Sorry, can't talk! Class is going to start in less than five minutes!"</p><p>"Yeah, I know, but I need to get to the faculty office—"</p><p>"Then, go!" she interrupted again as she slammed her shoe locker shut.</p><p>Kaito frowned. "But, I don't know where it is."</p><p>"Down the hallway at your left!" she exclaimed before running off.</p><p>Kaito scowled. "This is going to be a long day…"</p><p>He was about to go to the faculty office until he finally noticed on the name plaque on that girl's shoe locker: Aoko Nakamori.</p>
<hr/><p>Kaito wrote his name on the board, and he resisted the urge to sigh. He knew he had to grin and bear with it, so he turned around and smiled at his classmates. "Hello, everyone. I'm Kaito Kuroba, and I'll be your classmate from now on. I hope we'll get along."</p><p>As he expected, all of the girls, except for one of them, in his class blushed. The girl who didn't blush was none other than the girl he encountered at the shoe lockers.</p><p>Kaito resisted the urge to frown.</p><p>"Now, Nakamori-san, raise your hand please," the teacher said.</p><p>Aoko then raised her hand.</p><p>"Kuroba-san, please take your seat behind Nakamori-san."</p><p>Kaito nodded, and he walked to his seat as Aoko put her arm down. He sat down, and the teacher went back to the lecture.</p><p>Kaito tried to pay attention to the lesson, but he couldn't. It was too difficult for him to focus. Aoko Nakamori sat in front of him, and whenever he would try to avert his gaze toward the teacher, his gaze would always go to the back of her head. Eventually, he gave up on paying attention and stared at her. It wasn't long before he began to wonder if she was related to <em>that guy</em><em>.</em> Their surname sounded the same, so he wouldn't be surprised if they were, but if she was related to him, then, well…</p><p>Kaito scowled, and he let out a bitter sigh.</p><p>When the class finally ended, Kaito took out his phone and began to text Shinichi.</p><p>"Hey, are you that boy from this morning?"</p><p>Kaito looked up to find that Aoko turned around in her seat to face him, and he stopped texting Shinichi. "Yeah." He paused, and immediately, he had an idea. He erased his text to Shinichi and put his phone away. "And you're Nakamori…?"</p><p>Aoko smiled. "Aoko Nakamori! Nice to meet you!"</p><p>Kaito smiled back, but flirtatiously. "It's nice to meet you, too."</p><p>Kaito expected her to blush, just like the rest of the girls in his class, but instead, she didn't. She still smiled back at him neutrally, which puzzled him. Of course, his smile didn't falter.</p><p>Aoko then gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry about this morning."</p><p>Kaito raised an eyebrow at her. "What do you mean?"</p><p>"Oh, well, you know, brushing you off."</p><p>"You didn't brush me off."</p><p>"Okay, well, <em>kind of</em> brushing you off—"</p><p>Kaito waved his hand a few times to interrupt her before he smiled again. "It's fine."</p><p>Aoko still seemed to look apologetic.</p><p>Kaito was inwardly surprised because once again, she seemed to ignore his flirtation. Nonetheless, he continued to smile at her. "No, really, it's fine. I mean, you at least told me where the faculty office was."</p><p>Aoko laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, um, anyway, I just wanted to apologize to you for this morning. Oh, and greet you properly, of course."</p><p>He chuckled, and his smile grew. "Like I said, don't worry about it."</p><p>"Okay, if you say so," Aoko replied before she turned around in her seat to face the board.</p><p>Kaito stared at the back of her head. Even if he had only put in a bit of his charm, she should've reacted by now, but she didn't. He just didn't understand. Most girls like her would fall for his charm; he knew this much because the girls in his class blushed and felt flustered the instant he smiled at them. Yet, why was it that Aoko Nakamori didn't react like the rest of the girls?</p><p>His eyes widened before he looked down at his desk.</p><p>Could it be?</p><p>He thought about it for a moment, and he shook his head. That possibility was out of the question, anyway. Plus, he would've known Aoko Nakamori by now, but he met her for the first time today. After he thought about it some more, he concluded that the possibility of <em>that</em> was definitely out of the question.</p><p>He looked at his phone. He wanted to text Shinichi, but maybe that could be put off for now. Besides, it wasn't like Shinichi told them to text him <em>every</em> single thing that was happening, anyway.</p><p>He glanced at Aoko.</p><p>Besides, he wanted to find out more about this Aoko Nakamori on his own to see if she was indeed related to <em>that guy.</em></p>
<hr/><p>The class was currently learning English, but because Shinichi transferred Heiji to this school without letting Heiji know until yesterday, Heiji didn't have any of the textbooks. Fortunately, he was given leeway, but only for today. His homeroom teacher had told him to go buy the textbooks after school ended when he visited the faculty office. Thus, Heiji ended up having to share textbooks with the guy sitting next to him. He found it to be a shame, to be honest. In truth, he was hoping that the teacher would make that girl share textbooks with him instead.</p><p>Heiji continued to listen to the teacher's lecture, and he knew it wouldn't be long before the teacher would call out to someone to read a passage from the textbook. He hoped that the teacher would call out for that girl to read it. He wanted to hear her voice again.</p><p>Maybe then, he would be able to shake off this nagging, familiar feeling.</p><p>"Would anyone like to volunteer to read the next passage?" the teacher asked. "Anyone?"</p><p>Heiji glanced around, and he saw that no one raised their hand, not even that girl.</p><p>The teacher sighed in defeat. "So be it." He paused as his eyes scanned the room until his gaze finally fell on a single student. "Toyama-san."</p><p>At once, that girl stood up, and Heiji's gaze went toward her immediately. He noticed how nervous she was and how tense she looked. He expected her to start stuttering, but as soon as she cleared her throat and began to read the passage out loud to the class, any ounce of anxiety in her disappeared.</p><p>That nagging, familiar feeling grew within Heiji even more as he continued to listen to her voice.</p><p>After she was done, she sat down and let out a small sigh of relief.</p><p>Heiji couldn't bring himself to tear his gaze away from her, even when their eyes suddenly met. He figured she must've felt like someone was looking at her.</p><p>Within an instant, her cheeks turned pink, and she immediately looked away and went back to paying attention to the teacher.</p><p>Heiji continued to stare at her. There was something about her that was familiar, but he couldn't exactly figure out what it was.</p><p>Then, he blinked.</p><p>Did Shinichi plan this?</p>
<hr/><p><em>Kudo, did you plan this?</em> Heiji texted.</p><p>It was now lunch, and Heiji didn't bring food to eat. He wasn't particularly hungry, anyway, so he was wandering the school grounds to try to find any hints about what could possibly be wrong at the school. So far, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.</p><p><em>Plan what?</em> Shinichi replied.</p><p>
  <em>There's this girl in my class, and she's giving me this d</em>
  <em>éjà vu feeling.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Hattori, I don't know what you're talking about.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Are you serious?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>When am I not?</em>
</p><p>Heiji sighed. <em>Okay, fine, just making sure.</em></p><p>
  <em>Well, have you found out anything yet?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Nah. And Kuroba?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Knowing that guy, he probably won't even report to me until this evening.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ah, good point.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Let me know if anything else comes up.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Got it. Later.</em>
</p><p>"You're not going to eat?"</p><p>Heiji blinked, and he turned around to find that it was that Toyama girl from his class. "Nah. I'm not hungry."</p><p>"How's your first day so far?"</p><p>Heiji shrugged as he put his phone away. "It's all right, I guess."</p><p>"I see."</p><p>Heiji stared at her, noticing that she kept looking at the floor, and he could've sworn that her cheeks were tinted pink. He sensed her hesitation, so he asked, "Is something the matter?"</p><p>The Toyama girl cleared her throat before she looked at him. "Sorry about this morning, by the way."</p><p>Heiji blinked in confusion. "Huh?"</p><p>"I nearly gave you a fright, didn't I?"</p><p>Heiji frowned before he realized that she was talking about this morning when she collided into him. "Oh, that. No, it's fine. Don't worry about it."</p><p>Her head immediately shot up to look at him with wide eyes. "No, really, I <em>am</em> sorry! I didn't know you were there at all, and—"</p><p>Heiji blinked at her in surprise.</p><p>She became flustered immediately, and she looked at the floor.</p><p>There was a long pause between the two of them.</p><p>Heiji didn't know what to think of it, so he scratched his head. "Uh, look, I need to get going—"</p><p>"Wait!" she exclaimed before she looked up at him again.</p><p>Heiji frowned, but this time in irritation. "What is it?"</p><p>She hesitated before she pulled the collar of her shirt away. Slowly, she pulled at the strings of her necklace to reveal some charm.</p><p>Heiji blinked at the charm in confusion.</p><p>The Toyama girl hesitated again before she opened the charm, and she pulled out a small piece of metal. "Does…this look familiar to you?"</p><p>Heiji blinked again before he narrowed his eyes at the piece of metal, which was tiny and slightly rusted in some areas. He frowned before he shook his head at her. "Nope. Sorry. It doesn't ring a bell."</p><p>"Oh," she whispered in disappointment. Her shoulders slumped as her head drooped, and she averted her gaze from Heiji. "I see."</p><p>There was a long pause as she put away the piece of metal into the little charm bag.</p><p>"Is that it?" Heiji asked as he raised an eyebrow at her.</p><p>As she hid the charm from behind the collar of her shirt, she sighed without looking at him. "Yeah. Sorry for disturbing you."</p><p>Heiji frowned as he watched her walk away with her head still down. Just as she was about to go around the corner, he yelled, "Wait!"</p><p>She stopped in her tracks, and she turned her head to look at him. Her eyes held this hopeful gaze as her cheeks became pink. "Yes?"</p><p>Heiji blinked a few times as he stared at her before he finally asked, "What's your name?"</p><p>She blinked. Within that instant, her cheeks were no longer pink, and that hopeful gaze he saw disappeared. Immediately, she gave him a small regretful smile.</p><p>Heiji couldn't help but wonder if he was imagining things. He suddenly wondered if he did something wrong, but he snapped out of it when he heard her sigh.</p><p>This time, she gave him a genuine smile. "My name is Kazuha Toyama."</p>
<hr/><p>It wasn't long until school ended. As soon as the teacher ended the lesson, students began to get up from their seats and get ready to leave.</p><p>Like the rest, Aoko stood up from her seat after gathering her belongings, and she walked to where Keiko and Akako were sitting. "Hey, you two. Ready to head home?"</p><p>"You feeling okay, Aoko?" Keiko asked in concern. "I mean, I know you said that you stayed up late last night—"</p><p>"Which isn't healthy," Akako interrupted with a glare.</p><p>Aoko grinned sheepishly. "I can't help it, though. I just can't…sleep."</p><p>"A woman needs her beauty sleep to maintain her looks, you know."</p><p>"Says the girl who has almost every guy in this school chasing after her," Keiko muttered.</p><p>Akako narrowed her eyes. "And just what is <em>that</em> supposed to mean?"</p><p>Before Keiko could retort, Aoko said, "Hey, guys, come on, please don't fight. It's the end of the day, and I'm feeling tired…"</p><p>"That's because you didn't sleep properly!" Akako exclaimed.</p><p>Aoko glanced away sheepishly.</p><p>Akako narrowed her eyes.</p><p>"Uh, um, anyway…" Aoko tried to think of <em>something</em>, so these two could get off of her back. She glanced out of the corner of her eye to see that Kaito had just left the room, and immediately, she blurted out, "So, what do you guys think about Kuroba-san?"</p><p>She had expected them to say neutral responses, but when she saw that both had pondering looks on their faces, her eyes widened in surprise.</p><p>"He's kind of cute," Keiko replied. "Not my type, but he's cute."</p><p>Akako shrugged. "I have a high standard for men."</p><p>Keiko gave her a deadpanned look.</p><p>Akako scoffed. "Okay, fine, yes, I do think he's cute. But even though he's cute, he still doesn't reach that standard."</p><p>Keiko rolled her eyes. "Anyway, he has that vibe around him that makes him seem like a dork."</p><p>"Agreed."</p><p>Aoko blinked. "Oh. Wow. I…wasn't expecting you two to think that much about him."</p><p>"Oh, honey, we're not. Or at least, <em>I'm</em> not."</p><p>"I'm <em>definitely</em> not," Keiko added.</p><p>All of a sudden, Keiko and Akako looked at each other with widened eyes.</p><p>Aoko immediately got confused. "Um, guys?"</p><p>Before Aoko knew it, Akako was already pulling Aoko out of the room, and Keiko followed the two.</p><p>"A-Akako, what is it? What's wrong?" Aoko exclaimed. "Why are you pulling me?!"</p><p>Akako made no response, and it wasn't until they were on school grounds that Akako stopped pulling her.</p><p>Once Akako let go of her, Aoko continued to send puzzled looks at the two of them.</p><p>Akako and Aoko looked at each other, and when Akako nodded at Keiko, Keiko nodded back.</p><p>Keiko looked at Aoko, and she hesitated before asking, "Aoko, you're not…<em>interested</em> in Kuroba-san, are you?"</p><p>Aoko's eyes widened, and she immediately put her hands up and started waving them everywhere. "What?! No! No, no, no! I'm not!"</p><p>"Really?" Akako asked as she narrowed her eyes in skepticism. "I saw the way you two interacted today. Are you <em>sure</em> you're not into him?"</p><p>"<em>What?!</em>"</p><p>Keiko pondered for a moment before she slowly nodded. "Now that you mention it, they <em>do</em> look like a good match."</p><p>Aoko's jaw dropped in embarrassment. "I'm <em>not</em> into him!"</p><p>The two continued to stare at her in doubt.</p><p>Aoko began to wave her arms around frantically. "I'm not! <em>Really!</em> I just—I was <em>sort of</em> rude to him this morning, okay?! He was asking for directions to the faculty office, but I didn't want to be late, so, um, I sort of brushed him off, but you know, I didn't mean it! So, I just—I felt <em>bad</em>, okay? And he happened to be transferring to our class, so I figured I should apologize to him about it!"</p><p>"Well, you were almost late this morning…" Keiko said.</p><p>Aoko glanced away in shame.</p><p>Akako sighed as she shook her head in disapproval before she sent Aoko an apologetic look. "Well, anyway, I'm sorry if I pulled you a bit too roughly back there."</p><p>Aoko shook her head. "No, no, it's okay. I'm fine, anyway."</p><p>"So, what exactly do you think of Kuroba-san, then?"</p><p>Aoko blinked. "Huh?"</p><p>Akako frowned. "Well, you asked for a <em>reason</em>, right?"</p><p>Keiko nodded. "Yeah, so what do you think about him?"</p><p>Aoko pursed her lips before she tilted her head. "Uh, well, not much, honestly?"</p><p>"You don't even think he's at least remotely cute?"</p><p>"He's, uh, 'okay,' I guess?"</p><p>"Is that <em>really</em> it, though?" Akako asked as she narrowed her eyes in skepticism.</p><p>Aoko blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"</p><p>Akako frowned. "It just looked like he was trying to flirt with you after our first class ended. That's all."</p><p>Aoko continued to blink in confusion. "But, we were just talking."</p><p>Akako sighed in frustration before she looked at Keiko. "You saw it, too, didn't you?"</p><p>Keiko shook her head as she grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I was on my phone at the time."</p><p>"Of course…" Akako muttered as she rolled her eyes before she sighed and gave Aoko a disappointed look. "At this rate, I'm never going to see you get a boyfriend."</p><p>Aoko pouted. "Hey!"</p><p>Akako laughed as Aoko continued to pout.</p><p>When Aoko pouted some more, Keiko giggled. "Come on, let's head home already."</p><p>Akako and Aoko agreed, and so, the trio headed home.</p>
<hr/><p>Kazuha let out a long sigh as she stared at the door in front of her. Then, she heard shouts and sparing through the door, which only made her heart sink even more. She hung her head before she walked away from the door as she did her best to not look back. Before she knew it, she was on the school grounds. As she was approaching the gates, she heard her phone vibrate in her bag.</p><p>Kazuha stopped in her tracks, reached into her bag, and took out her phone. There, on her phone, was a message that made her smile.</p><p>
  <em>Hey, Kazuha-chan. How are you doing?</em>
</p><p>She headed to the nearest tree and leaned against it as she replied, <em>Hey, Kunisue-senpai. Truthfully, not that great.</em></p><p>
  <em>Why? What's wrong?</em>
</p><p>Kazuha sighed. <em>I…got suspended from aikido.</em></p><p>
  <em>What?!</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Yeah, I don't know…</em>
</p><p>Within seconds after her reply, Kazuha got a video call notification. She blinked in surprise before she accepted it.</p><p>There, on the screen of her phone, was none other than Teruaki Kunisue.</p><p>Kazuha blinked once more.</p><p>Teruaki frowned. "What happened?"</p><p>Kazuha opened her mouth to try to reply, but she was still on school grounds. She didn't exactly want to explain everything that happened in public, so she let out a sigh. "Now's not a good time, Kunisue-senpai."</p><p>Teruaki's frown grew. "Kazuha-chan—"</p><p>"I'll tell you when I get home," Kazuha interrupted, and when she saw his hesitance, she added, "I promise."</p><p>Teruaki sighed in defeat. "All right. Just let me know when you get home as soon as possible, okay?"</p><p>Kazuha rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, I know."</p><p>Teruaki narrowed his eyes. "I mean it, Kazuha-chan."</p><p>Kazuha giggled before she hung up on him and sighed.</p><p>It had been a while since they last video called, and Kazuha was happy to see him, but at the same time, she couldn't help but still feel down, especially after seeing how Heiji didn't even remember the piece of metal from her charm or even <em>her</em>, for that matter. Sure, they met over a decade ago, but she expected him to at least remember her. After all, she remembered him.</p><p>Then again, how could she <em>not?</em> Heiji was <em>everywhere</em> on the news in Osaka whenever it came to police investigations and cases. He became so famous that everyone knew about the Great Detective of the West. Everyone saw Heiji as the great high school detective, whereas Kazuha saw him…differently.</p><p>Kazuha sighed again as she stared at her phone. At that moment, Heiji's confused face at the piece of metal popped into her head.</p><p>Maybe it was stupid for her to not only hope that he would remember her, but also that there'd be any chance for her feelings to be reciprocated.</p>
<hr/><p>By the time Kazuha had gotten home, the house was silent, and she wasn't surprised that it was. She assumed that her mother most likely went grocery shopping and that her father was still working at the police department.</p><p>Nonetheless, she still said that she was home out of habit as she entered her house. She closed and locked the door behind her before she took off her shoes. After she headed up the stairs and entered her room, she closed the door behind her and sighed. Just as she began to change out of her uniform, she heard her phone vibrate in her bag again. Once she was dressed, she took out her phone from her bag and looked at its screen. She smiled when she saw that Teruaki texted her again.</p><p>
  <em>Hey, practice won't start for another 30 minutes, so if you're free right now, just video call me.</em>
</p><p>Kazuha went to do just that, and Teruaki immediately accepted.</p><p>"I wasn't expecting you to respond so quickly," Teruaki said as he grinned.</p><p>Kazuha smiled sheepishly as she went to sit on her bed. "Yeah, well, I just got home. How's it like at Teitan University?"</p><p>"Pretty hectic so far," Teruaki replied. "I mean, you know, since I have tennis practice and all."</p><p>Kazuha nodded. "Makes sense."</p><p>"But seriously, are you going to tell me what happened?"</p><p>Kazuha let out a long sigh.</p><p>"You're one of the best aikido members there. It doesn't make sense for you to be suspended."</p><p>"I got framed," Kazuha muttered, hoping that maybe he didn't hear.</p><p>However, Teruaki did, and he scowled. "For what?"</p><p>"For…stealing and selling supplies from the aikido club…"</p><p>"What?! But you'd never do that! They can't just suspend you without any proof—"</p><p>"According to eyewitnesses, I was the last person to enter the storage," Kazuha interrupted softly before she sighed. "I just—I don't know, okay, Kunisue-senpai? I—I tried to get some evidence, you know? And I did!"</p><p>"But?"</p><p>Kazuha hung her head as she muttered, "I'm still suspended…"</p><p>"What?! But, that doesn't make any sense! You said you found evidence!"</p><p>"Well, I talked to the advisor of the club, and she just told me that it wasn't <em>concrete</em> evidence…"</p><p>"What do you mean?"</p><p>"It was a photo, but…it was blurry and extremely dark…"</p><p>Teruaki sighed. "How did you even get the photo, anyway?"</p><p>"I thought I could catch the culprit in action again," Kazuha muttered.</p><p>"And what if you got hurt?"</p><p>Kazuha gave him a deadpanned look.</p><p>"Oh, right, you're a 2-dan in aikido."</p><p>"Duh," Kazuha replied as she rolled her eyes.</p><p>"So, you're telling me that you, a 2-dan in aikido, managed to get a photo of the culprit, <em>but</em> you screwed up taking the photo <em>itself</em>."</p><p>"I was in a panic!" Kazuha retorted.</p><p>"Okay, but did you even see the culprit's <em>face?</em>"</p><p>Kazuha glanced away in shame.</p><p>Teruaki sighed in exasperation. "You <em>really</em> should've planned this better."</p><p>Kazuha sent him a small glare.</p><p>Ignoring her glare, Teruaki asked, "Wait, how long are you suspended from the team?"</p><p>"I…don't know." Kazuha paused as she hesitated to continue, but when she saw the stern look on Teruaki's face, she sighed in defeat. "The advisor told me that until there's proof that I'm not the culprit, I'm suspended from all club activities."</p><p>Teruaki's jaw dropped in disbelief. "Are you <em>serious?</em>"</p><p>Kazuha nodded.</p><p>"Well, other than that, has anything else happened?"</p><p>Kazuha hesitated. Normally, she would've told him right off the bat that <em>the</em> Heiji Hattori transferred to her school, but considering how Heiji didn't remember her at all, she wasn't in the mood to mention him to Teruaki. Thankfully, before she could reply, she heard Teruaki click his tongue.</p><p>"Sorry, Kazuha-chan, I got to go," Teruaki reluctantly said. "Practice is about to start, and Coach is yelling at me to get on the court already."</p><p>"It's fine," Kazuha replied as she smiled. "Have fun at practice. It was nice talking to you again."</p><p>Teruaki blinked before he gave her a soft smile. "Same here. Later, Kazuha-chan."</p><p>"Later," Kazuha replied before she hung up and sighed. What was she going to do about her suspension? Without aikido, she didn't really have much to do…</p><p>Just then, her eyes widened in realization.</p><p>She could consult Heiji about this. She could use this as not just a way to help her out of her suspension, but maybe she could even get him to remember her!</p><p>Kazuha was about to jump up and down in excitement, but then, she realized that talking to him would be…<em>difficult.</em> After all, she knew she couldn't look at him straight in the eye without feeling flustered. Besides, what if Heiji said he wouldn't help her out? What could she do, then?</p><p>Kazuha shook her head. "No, I <em>have</em> to do it."</p><p>Aikido was everything to her, and if Heiji rejected her, she'd just have to do her best to convince him to take her case.</p>
<hr/><p>Kaito let out a long sigh as he sat on one of the chairs at the dining table.</p><p>"Young Master?"</p><p>Kaito looked up to see Konosuke. "Oh, hey, Jii-chan."</p><p>"Is everything all right, Young Master?" Konosuke asked in concern.</p><p>Kaito smiled. "I'm fine, Jii-chan. Today was just…" Kaito sighed.</p><p>Konosuke stared at Kaito before he said softly, "Young Master, I will always be here to listen."</p><p>Kaito hesitated, but when he saw that the worried look etched on Konosuke's face growing as every second passed, he sighed in defeat. "You know that one inspector that keeps trying to interrupt my heists?"</p><p>"Yes, but what about him?"</p><p>"It's not <em>him</em> exactly…"</p><p>Konosuke had a puzzled expression on his face.</p><p>"It's, uh, his daughter? Well, I can't actually say she's his daughter because I haven't really confirmed it yet, but they have the same surname…"</p><p>"Young Master, it is highly probable that they are not related."</p><p>"I know, Jii-chan, but, I mean, Shinichi sent me to this school for a reason, you know? Like, maybe he knew about this beforehand?"</p><p>"I would not put it past him, if that is the case. However, if she is indeed his daughter, then this is rather concerning…"</p><p>"I know… I was hoping to maybe hear something in school that would drop that definite bomb on me, but instead, I got nothing." Kaito sighed in irritation before he muttered bitterly, "<em>Absolutely</em> nothing."</p><p>A short silence ensued.</p><p>Eventually, Konosuke asked, "Why not avoid her for now? Is that not the safest route?"</p><p>"I was going to do that, but I can't, Jii-chan," Kaito replied. "If I do, Shinichi might get on my ass about it since I'll be 'missing possible valuable information.'" Kaito rolled his eyes. "And, I mean, in that case, he has a <em>point,</em> so I'd <em>have</em> to get to know her." It wasn't long before Kaito frowned.</p><p>"What is it, Young Master?"</p><p>"Well, I find her kind of…weird."</p><p>"And why is that?"</p><p>"When I greeted the entire class, I let some of my charm through, but…she didn't blush like the rest of the girls."</p><p>"Perhaps it is because there is someone in her life. That bond must be very strong for her to not be affected by your charm, Young Master."</p><p>"She doesn't have a boyfriend, though."</p><p>"Oh?"</p><p>"Yeah, if she did, I would've caught some scent from her, but I didn't."</p><p>"Well then, I suppose that <em>is</em> rather strange." Konosuke paused as he watched Kaito continue to ponder about this girl. "Young Master, forgive me for asking, but are you perhaps…interested in this girl?"</p><p>At once, Kaito slammed his hand down onto the counter, but Konosuke didn't flinch. Kaito's hand was clenched into a tight fist, and Konosuke watched it shake in anger.</p><p>"You of all people should know better than to ask that," Kaito muttered grimly.</p><p>Konosuke sighed before he bowed. "My apologies, Young Master Kaito."</p><p>Kaito let out a long sigh as his hands unclenched before he muttered, "I'm going to my room."</p><p>"Young Master—"</p><p>"And please leave me alone for the rest of the night."</p><p>Konosuke stared at Kaito in sadness. "Young Master…"</p><p>Without another word, Kaito got up from his seat and left the room. After he went to his room, he slammed the door shut and stared at the door in anger. Just then, he heard his phone vibrate in his pants, but he did his best to ignore it.</p><p>However, when it continued to vibrate, he growled, and he took his phone out from his pocket. He narrowed his eyes when he looked at the caller ID.</p><p>It was Shinichi.</p><p>Kaito stared at his phone as it continued to vibrate in the grip of his hand.</p><p>He knew he was supposed to pick it up.</p><p>He knew that he was supposed to report to Shinichi right now.</p><p>Kaito stared at his phone as it continued to vibrate. Eventually, he let out a long sigh and tossed his phone onto his bed.</p><p>He just wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone.</p>
<hr/><p>Aoko had just placed dishes in the sink when she heard her phone go off. Immediately, she answered her phone. "Hello?"</p><p>"Aoko!"</p><p>"Oh, hey, Keiko!" Aoko greeted with a smile. "Can you hold on a second?"</p><p>"Yeah, sure!"</p><p>Aoko placed her phone onto the counter, and she put Keiko on speakerphone. "Okay, there!"</p><p>Keiko laughed. "What are you doing right now?"</p><p>Aoko rolled her eyes as she smiled. "Washing the dishes. I just finished eating dinner."</p><p>"Oh… Your father's not home yet?"</p><p>"No, not yet. He called me ahead of time to tell me that he'd be late, so I should eat dinner ahead of time."</p><p>"Oh, I see."</p><p>There was a long pause as Aoko turned on the faucet. Aoko tested the water as she adjusted the temperature. It wasn't long before she began to wash the dishes with a sponge.</p><p>"Hey, Aoko, can I ask you something?" Keiko asked.</p><p>Aoko blinked in confusion, and she paused in washing the dishes. "Sure, what is it?"</p><p>"Well, are you really not interested in Kaito?"</p><p>Aoko sighed. "Keiko, how many times do I have to say that I'm not?"</p><p>"I just feel like you're hiding something from me and Akako!"</p><p>"I'm not!" Aoko exclaimed before she huffed as she finished washing the dishes. She turned off the faucet, and she began to dry off the plates.</p><p>"Really?"</p><p>"Why would I hide anything from you guys?" Aoko replied as she began to put the plates away and dried the counter from any water spillage. When she was finished, she dried her hands and turned the speakerphone off before placing her phone against her ear.</p><p>"You just…feel a bit different from usual."</p><p>"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Aoko asked in confusion before she headed up to her room. When she arrived, she sat on her bed.</p><p>"I-I just… It feels like you're hiding something from us."</p><p>"I'm not hiding anything," Aoko replied rather hastily. She paused, and she licked her lips before she sighed.</p><p>"Aoko…"</p><p>"Trust me, I'm okay! Really!"</p><p>"If you're not, you better tell us immediately," Akako said.</p><p>Aoko's eyes widened. "Akako?!"</p><p>"Sorry, she's been here," Keiko replied sheepishly.</p><p>"When did you go three-way?!"</p><p>"When you were washing dishes," Akako replied.</p><p>Aoko sighed.</p><p>"Are you really not hiding anything from us?"</p><p>"I'm not!" Aoko exclaimed before she sighed in exasperation. "Look, I need to go."</p><p>"Wait, Aoko—"</p><p>Aoko hung up, and she let out a long sigh as she placed her phone on her bedside table.</p><p>They were becoming suspicious…<em>again.</em></p><p>Aoko couldn't blame them, but she had no choice except to lie to them, even if it's straight to their faces. She just couldn't dare to involve them in something like this.</p><p>Aoko let out a shaky breath.</p><p>Ever since <em>that</em> incident…</p><p>Aoko fell back onto her bed, and she shut her eyes, trying to forget everything from a few months ago, but she couldn't. The scene was so vivid in her mind, and it had happened so quickly. She tried to open her eyes again, but her eyes refused to open. She then tried to make the scene change, but her efforts were in vain. It felt as though she was reliving the entire scene again.</p><p>Aoko turned to her side and curled into a ball. She hoped that she could just somehow fall asleep, so she could finally go into dreamland to escape this reality.</p><p>Unfortunately, she couldn't.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. A Potential Lead</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter was long overdue, but I'm glad this was finally released. Thank you all for your patience, and big thanks to <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/chocolafied">chocolafied</a> for supporting me while working on this and making the book cover for me on FFN! I especially want to give a shout-out to those who've sent me anonymous asks on Tumblr about <i>The Light of the Vampire</i>. I don't get to hear much from the readers of this fanfic on my social media, so it was a nice surprise!</p><p>To be transparent with you all, the reason why this update took me 4 years was due to my perfectionism and paranoia with trying to make everything continue to work. This rewritten version took a long time to be planned, and shortly after I posted Chapter 1, which had taken a while to write and perfect, I finished the outline for Chapter 2. Since I view <i>The Light of the Vampire</i> as one of my bigger projects, that perfectionism and paranoia had kicked in, and some days, it was really hard to write and work on this despite having the outline finished. I finished the rough draft of this chapter about 2 months ago. As much as I enjoy writing and revising, this was still definitely a beast to revise and edit.</p><p>Nowadays, I find myself trying to improve my writing productivity because I can't write as much as I used to way back then, real-life responsibilities kicking in, and I have a better, consistent schedule. Chapter 3's outline is already finished, so I'm hoping the next update won't take too long, but given how long these chapters are, we'll see.</p><p>Also, I wanted to just say this: I know things are still a difficult time right now due to the pandemic; political atmosphere; deaths; unemployment; housing, food, and financial insecurity; and everything else, but I hope that this chapter brings you some joy into your life, even if it's a brief moment.</p><p>With all that said, enjoy.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Kaito walked into Ekoda the next day, he made a mental reminder to contact Shinichi later and apologize for not getting back to him sooner. Granted, last night wasn't exactly the best of nights, but knowing Shinichi, he was probably already irritated that Kaito hadn't given him any updates or details so far.</p><p>Thinking about last night made Kaito's smile falter as he opened his shoe locker. He felt horrible for snapping at Konosuke. As soon as Kaito had seen Konosuke this morning, he apologized to him in a quiet, sincere manner. Even though Konosuke had already long forgiven him, Kaito still felt guilty about it.</p><p>As Kaito put on his indoor shoes and his regular shoes away into his shoe locker, he forced himself to forget about those thoughts and smile. Just as he had closed his locker, he noticed out of the corner of his eye a boy from his class.</p><p>As if noticing his gaze, the boy turned his head to meet his gaze and grinned at Kaito. "Hey Kuroba-kun! How was your first day?"</p><p>"Not bad," Kaito replied as he shrugged.</p><p>"Glad to hear that. Oh, I'm Keisuke Fujie, by the way."</p><p>Kaito nodded and grinned, already allowing his façade to take place. "It's nice to meet you."</p><p>"Want to go to class together?"</p><p>"Sure."</p><p>Kaito began to make small talk with Keisuke, starting with some background at how things were at Ekoda since Kaito was new and hadn't known anyone yet. It wasn't hard for Kaito to casually make small talk, but his mind was still preoccupied with Konosuke and last night's events, so he had to do his best to not drift away from the conversation.</p><p>Finally, he and Keisuke arrived in their classroom. Since it was still early, not many people had arrived yet; the ones who did were casually mingling within their cliques.</p><p>Kaito made a mental note that Aoko had yet to arrive, and out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Keisuke was already heading to his seat. Kaito had debated on heading to his seat, too, but just then, an idea popped into his head.</p><p>"Hey, Fujie," Kaito called out, quickly walking toward Keisuke's seat.</p><p>Keisuke blinked in surprise as Kaito sat down in the seat in front of him. "Um, Kuroba-kun, that's not your seat."</p><p>Kaito shrugged as he sent another grin. "Class hasn't started yet. It's fine."</p><p>Keisuke blinked a few times before he glanced away and muttered, "Oh, um, okay."</p><p>"So, I was wondering about something."</p><p>Keisuke looked at Kaito, slightly tilting his head in a questioning manner.</p><p>Kaito scooted closer, clearing his throat before lowering his voice. "Is Nakamori-san the daughter of that inspector that chases Kid?"</p><p>Keisuke blinked a few times, stunned at Kaito's random question, but nodded nonetheless. "Yup, she is, but…" He then gave a sheepish grin as his voice trailed off.</p><p>Kaito raised an eyebrow in response.</p><p>Keisuke cleared his throat, glancing at the door for some reason in hesitation.</p><p>"What is it?" Kaito asked, raising his eyebrow further.</p><p>"Well, it's just that you should avoid mentioning Kid in front of Nakamori-san," Keisuke replied quietly, his voice just barely a whisper.</p><p>Kaito resisted the urge to narrow his eyes; instead, he blinked in confusion. "Why?"</p><p>"Kid is a…touchy subject with Nakamori-san. Whenever Kid is mentioned, Nakamori-san gets upset—not that I can blame her, of course."</p><p>"Why?" Kaito pressed.</p><p>"Well, her father <em>is</em> Inspector Nakamori." Keisuke paused, hesitating to continue.</p><p>At that moment, Kaito realized that Keisuke was hiding something else—something that might've been important and the <em>real </em>reason why Shinichi had sent Kaito to this school in the first place to go undercover. Still, Kaito kept his face as it always was throughout the entire conversation, never letting his true emotions slip through.</p><p>Just as Kaito was going to question Keisuke further, however, Aoko, Akako, and Keiko entered the room, already well deep into their conversation. Kaito's eyes lingered on Aoko, watching how her eyes brightened with joy as she talked with Akako and Keiko, but he noticed that she had slight eyebags. He did his best to not eavesdrop on her conversation with Akako and Keiko, but when Keisuke looked reluctant to say anything more, especially after noticing that Aoko had entered the room, Kaito figured that he had no choice.</p><p>Akako sighed as her shoulders drooped. "How many times have I told you, Aoko?"</p><p>Aoko smiled sheepishly in response.</p><p>"We're getting worried about you, you know," Keiko added, frowning in concern.</p><p>"I'm okay, really," Aoko replied, holding her hands up in defense. "I really am."</p><p>"Those eyebags say otherwise," Akako retorted.</p><p>Aoko laughed sheepishly.</p><p>Kaito blinked, resisting the urge to let his gaze linger.</p><p>Was Aoko having sleeping problems?</p><p>"Um, Kuroba-kun?"</p><p>Kaito snapped out of his thoughts to look at Keisuke, who had called him. "What is it?"</p><p>"You okay?" Keisuke asked, furrowing his brow. "You suddenly went silent."</p><p>Kaito sent a small grin. "I'm fine. No need to worry about me. I should probably head to my seat now since class is starting soon."</p><p>Keisuke silently nodded in understanding, sending Kaito a small smile of his own.</p><p>Kaito headed to his seat right in front of Aoko, making sure to avoid making eye contact with her and her two friends. Now that Keisuke had confirmed that Aoko was indeed Inspector Nakamori's daughter, Kaito had to think of a plan.</p><p>More importantly, why was Keisuke so hesitant to tell him more about Aoko?</p><hr/><p>To say that Heiji enjoyed receiving the attention from the entire student body about his status as a well-established detective, despite his age and current occupation as a high school student, was an understatement. He would feel proud and soak up the compliments and questions every person asked.</p><p>Plus, this kept his mind off his check-in with Shinichi last night and this morning. Kaito hadn't yet reported to Shinichi about the first day of school and whether anything was up. From Heiji's perspective, Kaito might've been goofing around since he often overheard Shinichi's complaints dealing with his antics at school, occasionally at home whenever Kaito visited Shinichi, and at "work."</p><p>Heiji wasn't sure what else to report to Shinichi last night other than the fact that everyone had recognized him and that Kazuha Toyama's presence nagged at his mind. To his surprise, Shinichi seemed to not know about Kazuha and had simply told him that the only places he gained as a lead were the three schools that he, Heiji, and Kaito were now attending. Even though Kazuha Toyama struck a sense of déjà vu within Heiji, he needed to focus on the current case.</p><p>Heiji was still puzzled as to how in the world <em>three high schools</em> like Teitan High School, Kaihou Academy, and Ekoda High School were tied into the case. Heiji had expected something like a police department with a corrupted police force, which meant that Heiji's father would have to get involved. Regardless, Shinichi said there were leads, so he had to do whatever he could to figure out whatever seemed amiss. So far, everything seemed pretty normal for high school students.</p><p>Therefore, Heiji made it a goal to figure out what everyone was up to, so here he was, standing outside the gym doors during lunchtime after one of his classmates tried to scout him for the kendo club this morning. As soon as he entered, he felt the atmosphere change from everyone practicing to utter silence.</p><p>Within those few seconds, Heiji took note of how the entire club was comprised of all men. He resisted the urge to scowl when he realized that while some of the members stared at him in awe, others had glared at him.</p><p>The silence made the atmosphere all the more stifling.</p><p>"Hattori-san!"</p><p>Heiji immediately recognized that voice and saw his classmate run over to him. "Hey, I'm here to see what you're all like. Although, I got to say, it's a bit surprising that you're practicing even during lunchtime."</p><p>"Oh, it's because there's a practice match coming up," his classmate answered. "The upperclassmen are pretty, uh, <em>competitive</em>, if you catch my drift."</p><p>Heiji let out a whistle. "I'm impressed."</p><p>His classmate then laughed. "Yeah. Anyway, are you thinking of joining our club? The captain would be really happy if you did!"</p><p>Heiji sensed some glares intensify toward him, and he immediately frowned.</p><p>"Hattori-san? Everything okay?"</p><p>Heiji's gaze went back to his classmate, and he grinned, suppressing his irritation. "Yeah, my bad, I was lost in thought."</p><p>"Oh, that's okay! Were you thinking of any of those cases you could be working on? Oh, and your dad's the police superintendent, right? What is it like to be the son of someone like him? I bet he's pretty proud of you!"</p><p>Heiji raised an eyebrow. "You're asking a lot of questions, aren't you?"</p><p>His classmate froze like a deer in the headlights and then let out a sheepish laugh. "Sorry… I'm a big fan of yours, man—both in kendo and with your detective work. I don't mean to get carried away."</p><p>Heiji shrugged as he grinned. "It's fine. Just remember to treat me like a person, yeah?"</p><p>His classmate nodded. "Anything you say! Anyway, uh, back to me asking you to join kendo club—"</p><p>"Yeah, about that," Heiji interrupted, frowning as he glanced at some of the upperclassmen who had been glaring at him. From his perspective, it was a shame that the club was entirely comprised of men and lacked diversity.</p><p>As soon as that thought crossed his mind, his frown grew as he looked at the back of his hands.</p><p>"Hattori-san?" his classmate called out.</p><p>"Yeah?" Heiji asked, his gaze going back to his classmate.</p><p>"What was it you wanted to say?"</p><p>"Well, I mean, it's only my second day here on campus," Heiji replied. "I don't really know much around here, you know? Everyone seems to know me, but I don't know anybody here."</p><p>"Oh, then no worries! I can introduce you to all the members—oh, wait, <em>do</em> you want to join, though?"</p><p>Heiji nodded, his eyes lingering for a few seconds at the upperclassmen who glared at him earlier.</p><p>"Oh, great!" his classmate exclaimed. "Please follow me! I'll introduce you to everyone, and then the club advisor can help you fill out a form later!"</p><p>Heiji followed him and listened intently as his classmate introduced him to the fellow first- and second-year students in the club. Soon after, Heiji met his upperclassmen in the club, some of whom faked a smile and squeezed Heiji's hand <em>too</em> tightly, and, of course, the captain.</p><p>It wasn't long before Heiji was shown around the gym, the locker rooms, and, finally, the storage room, which was much larger than he had expected. Inside were lots of various ball game- and gymnastics-related equipment and large lockers.</p><p>"We keep our kendo uniforms in our club room, which I can show you later!" his classmate said after finishing his introduction of the storage room. "I'm sure we can get you an assigned locker soon, too."</p><p>Heiji stayed silent, quickly scanning the room.</p><p>"Hattori-san?"</p><p>"Do you have small sports clubs or something?"</p><p>His classmate blinked a few times. "Uh, excuse me?"</p><p>Heiji approached the large bag of basketballs, which were tied neatly up, but when Heiji pulled it upward, he frowned and narrowed his eyes at the few basketballs inside. "Do you have small sports clubs or not?"</p><p>"Uh, that, I don't know about…" His classmate paused. "Why are you asking?"</p><p>"Why is this bag so big?" Heiji asked, holding the bag up further for emphasis.</p><p>"Uh, I'm not part of the basketball club, so I don't know."</p><p>Heiji then placed the bag of basketballs back down to its original place and frowned. "Is this storage room shared with all the sports clubs?"</p><p>"Yeah, we use this room to store all our equipment. Our school has locker rooms for changing into uniforms and temporary lockers or baskets students can use until they're done with their activities."</p><p>"And everyone has access to this storage room?"</p><p>His classmate shook his head. "Only club advisors can open and lock this room."</p><p>"So, basically, the teachers."</p><p>"Yeah, specifically any teacher who's a club advisor. This is always open during any sort of club activity, too. Today's the kendo club's day for practicing and training during lunchtime. Otherwise, this room is kept under lock and key."</p><p>"I see," Heiji muttered before he asked loudly, "Was there an incident in this storage room recently?"</p><p>His classmate pondered for a bit before he widened his eyes in realization. "Oh, my God, Hattori-san, you're a <em>genius!</em>"</p><p>"So, I'm guessing something <em>did</em> happen."</p><p>"Yeah! A few weeks ago, someone stole equipment from the storage room. It wasn't obvious at first because not all the clubs interact with each other, but the student council started piecing it together when everyone kept reporting that they were either losing supplies or equipment for their clubs."</p><p>"And what happened afterward?"</p><p>"Well, the student council found evidence of the culprit, and all the teachers got involved. From what I heard, she got kicked out of the aikido club and can't come back unless she returns all the equipment she stole or pays for them."</p><p>Heiji raised an eyebrow. "'She?'"</p><p>"Yeah… You know Toyama-san from our class?"</p><p>Heiji blinked, recalling the girl he had been feeling déjà vu vibes since he had arrived here to Kaihou Academy and the conversation he had overheard on his first day from the faculty office. "<em>She's</em> the culprit?"</p><p>"Yeah. I don't know much about the details myself, though. I just know that Toyama-san was accused and still hasn't returned the equipment to this day." His classmate paused, frowning. "Although, I do find one thing weird."</p><p>"What is it?"</p><p>"Well, no one really defended her when she got accused—not even anyone from the aikido club. She's been in that club since last year, and I mean, I thought she would've <em>at least</em> had them defend her, you know?"</p><p>Heiji frowned, recalling yesterday's incident when he overheard Kazuha's conversation with a teacher just before he bumped into her.</p><p>"Hattori-san?"</p><p>"I see. Thanks for telling me."</p><p>"Sure, no problem," his classmate replied. "Want me to show you around some more?"</p><p>"That sounds good," Heiji replied, but the wheels in his head were already turning, and he knew that something was up.</p><p>First, the déjà vu he felt around Kazuha Toyama, and now, this incident?</p><p>Maybe there was more to her than he thought.</p><hr/><p>Students in Ran's classroom were mingling, grabbing their chairs and desks to sit closer with each other or even leaving the classroom to go buy lunch instead.</p><p>Ran and Sonoko both turned their desks and chairs to face each other. Ran grabbed her lunch from her school bag, but she winced when she heard screaming from a distance.</p><p>"Ah, yes, the <em>beautiful</em> sound of rabid fangirls," Sonoko whispered with a grin on her face as she took out her lunch from her bag as well.</p><p>"Sonoko!" Ran scolded, glancing around to see if anyone was listening to them. She relaxed when she saw that everyone was minding their own business and realized then that Shinichi and nearly all the girls in the classroom were gone.</p><p>"What? He has his little entourage at school now!"</p><p>"Oh, you know that can't be helped."</p><p>"You shouldn't be talking, you know," Sonoko replied she raised an eyebrow.</p><p>Ran blinked. "What do you mean by that?"</p><p>Sonoko then sent Ran a deadpanned look.</p><p>"What? What's wrong?"</p><p>"Nothing. Forget I said anything, okay?" Sonoko said before she began eating.</p><p>"Okay, if you say so…" Ran was about to start eating until she paused in her actions.</p><p>When Sonoko noticed Ran was completely still, she frowned, concern etched on her face. "Ran? What's the matter?"</p><p>Ran blinked, snapping out of her thoughts. "Oh, no, I'm just thinking about last night. That's all."</p><p>Sonoko frowned even more. "About your dad?"</p><p>Ran nodded in silence.</p><p>"He finally came home, right? Isn't that a good thing?"</p><p>"It is, but…I get worried."</p><p>"If you need money—"</p><p>"Sonoko, we're not in any financial trouble."</p><p>Sonoko's frown grew, not completely convinced.</p><p>Ran smiled softly. "Sonoko, really, it's okay."</p><p>"Yeah, but…you told me last night that he was pretty tired, didn't you?"</p><p>Ran nodded before she replied softly, "So tired that he didn't even want to eat dinner."</p><p>Sonoko stayed silent for a few seconds. "It must be tough, right? With him working as a private investigator and consultant for the police, I mean."</p><p>"Yeah, he's…always tired whenever he comes home." Ran paused, resisting the urge to add that there were times when Kogoro didn't come home at all.</p><p>Sonoko saw the pained gaze that Ran had directed to her lunch. Within seconds, Sonoko smiled and placed her chopsticks down, gaining Ran's attention. "You and me. After school. <em>Shopping</em>."</p><p>"Wait, what?" Ran asked, blinking in confusion.</p><p>"Clothes shopping, Ran!"</p><p>"But, don't you already have—"</p><p>Sonoko shushed her. "No, it's for you <em>and</em> me."</p><p>Ran's eyes grew wide. "Sonoko, you know that I don't have the money to afford designer clothes."</p><p>"We'll go thrift shopping, silly! Not <em>all</em> my clothes are designer, you know." Sonoko immediately pointed her uniform. "Seriously. Does <em>this</em> look like designer to you?"</p><p>Ran couldn't help but laugh. "No, definitely not."</p><p>"Exactly! So, after school, we're going shopping." Sonoko paused and frowned. "Unless you're too busy?"</p><p>Ran frowned and thought about Kogoro, who was probably still sleeping at this time. "Well, I'm worried about my dad, so…"</p><p>"That's fine. We'll head to your place, check on how he's doing, and <em>then</em> go shopping." Sonoko paused. "Well, if you still want to when we get there, I mean. I'm more than happy to help you around the office and at home."</p><p>"No, it's okay. You don't have to help me."</p><p>"Ran, you do almost all the chores around the house. I could totally help you."</p><p>Ran rolled her eyes and smiled, knowing fully well that Sonoko would be stubborn about this until the very end. "Fine, but we might not go shopping afterward, you know."</p><p>Sonoko waved her hand in a shooing manner. "That's no biggie. We can always go tomorrow. Besides, Poirot Café is right downstairs! We can eat there after we're done."</p><p>Ran laughed. "Okay, okay. I've been craving for one of their sandwiches anyway."</p><p>Before Sonoko could reply, however, the two of them heard more squealing in the distance.</p><p>Ran felt bad for Shinichi. She knew it couldn't be helped, and he didn't look annoyed by all the attention he was gaining, but it seemed like every moment outside of class, he was surrounded by his fans, most of whom were girls. It seemed…suffocating, to say the least.</p><p>"Hottie McHotster strikes again!" Sonoko exclaimed, gaining everyone's attention in the classroom.</p><p>Ran's jaw immediately dropped. "<em>Sonoko!</em>"</p><hr/><p>Kazuha sat in the courtyard alone, right on the grass underneath one of the trees on campus, as she opened her lunch box. Within seconds, she couldn't help but relax as she felt a gentle breeze, despite her disappointment at herself for not trying to talk to Heiji earlier. Every chance she had, no matter how minuscule it was, would immediately disappear because of Heiji's fans, and if it weren't that, then it would be due to her nervousness at trying to approach him again after what happened yesterday.</p><p>Kazuha let out a small sigh before she began eating her lunch in silence, remembering Heiji's words and reactions yesterday regarding the metal piece she had shown him. She was hoping he'd remember, but then again, how could he? It had happened so long ago when they were young… Perhaps he didn't remember it at all. Plus, logically speaking, it was silly of her to even <em>hope</em> that he'd remember because something like that only happened in dramas.</p><p>Not wanting to dwell her mind on it further, Kazuha immediately took out her cell phone, hoping to see a text from Teruaki, but she was instantly disappointed when she saw there were no notifications.</p><p>Sighing, Kazuha texted, <em>Hey, let me know when you're free to talk. I know you're busy with your studies and tennis club, but it'd be nice to talk to you during my lunch break at school or when I get home. I'm not really sure what to do right now…</em></p><p>After sending the text to Teruaki without hesitation, she let out another sigh, remembering then that Teruaki was most likely busy with his studies and probably wouldn't get back to her until much later in the evening. She continued to eat in silence, alone in her thoughts as she tried to figure out how else to approach Heiji about taking her supposed case. If anyone could find the culprit, it'd be Heiji—no doubt about it.</p><p>Within seconds, Kazuha heard giggling behind her. Once she glanced to see that it was two familiar girls from the aikido club, she immediately turned her back to them, hoping that they wouldn't recognize or notice her behind the tree.</p><p>"I wish Kunisue-senpai was still around…" she heard one of the girls said.</p><p>"I know!" the other girl squealed before she sighed in bliss. "Having both Kunisue-senpai and Heiji-kun at our school would've made my fangirl heart <em>die!</em>"</p><p>"At least we can try to talk to Heiji-kun this time, though!"</p><p>"Totally! With Kunisue-senpai, it was so hard to do that…"</p><p>"Yeah, I know what you mean… He and Toyama-san were pretty close, weren't they?"</p><p>"Definitely. Do you think he has a girlfriend by now?"</p><p>"Well, he's off at university right now while Toyama-san's here, so probably."</p><p>Kazuha then heard a groan. "I wish I had gotten his phone number or e-mail address! That would've been my one chance at scoring a date with him!"</p><p>"Why don't you ask Toyama-san?"</p><p>"No way! Remember all the girls who asked her for Kunisue-senpai's contact information? She turned them all down, <em>including</em> the ones from our club!"</p><p>Kazuha pursed her lips, not wanting to listen in on their conversation anymore, but no matter how hard she clutched her chopsticks and hoped those girls would just go away, it didn't diminish the ever-growing whiteness underneath her fingers.</p><hr/><p>Aoko could feel how the atmosphere of the room brighten with excitement as various voices echoed throughout the classroom. She could hear everyone starting to get into their usual cliques of friends, discussing the latest trends, and talking about getting lunch together.</p><p>Aoko's eyes slowly trailed to Kaito, who had stood up and was already mingling pretty well with the rest of their classmates. It looked like he was already befriending at least a few as she overheard them heading to the cafeteria together to grab some food.</p><p>"So, Aoko, are you going to spill the beans now?"</p><p>Aoko blinked and realized that the question came from Akako, who had her hands on her hips, and she was still sitting in her seat while she and Keiko stood next to her as she gave a blank stare in response.</p><p>"Did you remember to at least bring food?" Keiko asked.</p><p>Aoko laughed sheepishly. "About that…"</p><p>Akako let out a sigh. "See, this is why I said sleep is important."</p><p>"I know, I know," Aoko replied, now standing up. "I'm doing my best to sleep on time, really."</p><p>"You don't go on your cell phone before going to bed, do you?"</p><p>"Mama Bear Akako is at it again," Keiko sang.</p><p>"How about we go to the cafeteria?" Aoko asked before Akako could retort to Keiko. "I need to buy food today, after all. I think I left my wallet somewhere in my bag…"</p><p>Akako let out a sigh. "All right, but just know that I'm going to get you to spill the beans once we start eating."</p><p>"I hope we can find a table," Keiko muttered. "Or seats for ourselves, at least."</p><p>"You're right," Akako replied as she frowned before she looked at Aoko. "Keiko and I will go on ahead to see if we can get ourselves a table, then. See you in the cafeteria, okay? And if you can't find your wallet, just text me or Keiko, and we'll get something for you."</p><p>Aoko's eyes widened. "But—"</p><p>"We're not letting you starve—not on my watch," Akako interrupted.</p><p>Aoko let out a sigh, and she smiled. "Okay, thanks, you two."</p><p>Akako nodded, waving her hand, and Keiko followed her as they left the classroom.</p><p>Aoko then dug through her bag, trying to find her wallet. When she did, she then ran toward the classroom door, out of the room, and down the hallway. Just as soon as she headed toward the cafeteria after going down a flight of stairs, she nearly crashed into another person at the entrance.</p><p>"Whoa!"</p><p>Aoko stopped in time before she looked up. "Oh, sorry, Kuroba-san!"</p><p>"Nah, it's okay," Kaito replied as he smiled and looked down at her. "You seemed like you were in a hurry."</p><p>Aoko took a step back to allow some space between them.</p><p>"I'm guessing you were hungry?"</p><p>Aoko snapped out of her thoughts before she nodded and smiled sheepishly. "Was it that obvious?"</p><p>"Kind of." Kaito paused, his smile growing even more. "Hey, on the bright side, at least you weren't brushing me off this time."</p><p>Aoko felt her embarrassment rise through the roof as soon as he said that. "I already apologized—"</p><p>"I'm <em>joking</em>, Nakamori-san," Kaito said, taking a step closer to her before he winked. "Relax."</p><p>Aoko blinked at this as her lips pursed. Her thoughts wandered to what Akako had mentioned yesterday, yet the only thing Aoko could see from Kaito's smile was his friendliness. From her perspective, it seemed like he integrated himself pretty well by his second day here.</p><p>After all, here Kaito was, standing before her and acting friendly and approachable as ever, just like on his first day.</p><p>Finally, Aoko let out a smile of her own as she forced those silly thoughts out of her head. "Okay, well, I should go. I'm keeping Akako and Keiko waiting."</p><p>"All right, I won't hold you up," Kaito replied, still smiling, before he walked past her and headed to the vending machine.</p><p>Aoko then headed inside, got in line, and peered up, tip-toeing to see what was available via the menu and what was at the counters. Once she managed to arrive at the front, she finally saw that there were several deli sandwiches available.</p><p>"I'll have one of the pork ones, please," Aoko said, pointing to it.</p><p>"Here you go, dear," the lunch lady replied, handing one to her.</p><p>"Thank you!" Aoko replied with a smile.</p><p>Soon enough, she paid for it and quickly found Akako and Keiko at a table. Just as she sat down next to Akako, Akako stared at her while Keiko, who was sitting on the opposite end, was scrolling on her phone.</p><p>"W-What?" Aoko asked, her eyes blinking in confusion.</p><p>Akako's eyes slowly narrowed, and when she turned her head to Keiko, who was still engrossed in her phone, she frowned. "Oh, you've <em>got</em> to be kidding me."</p><p>Keiko looked up immediately. "What?"</p><p>Before Akako could respond, her mouth immediately closed and eyes widened.</p><p>Aoko blinked, this time completely confused.</p><p>"Nakamori-san."</p><p>Aoko then whirled around and looked up to see Kaito. "Oh, Kuroba-san, what is it?"</p><p>Kaito smiled at her as he held up a can of Sprite. "Need one?"</p><p>Aoko blinked again before she looked at her food and had an epiphany. "Oh, my God, I left my water bottle upstairs."</p><p>"Yeah, you're probably better off drinking something like this," Kaito replied, his smile growing in amusement.</p><p>"No, no, no, I can't take something like that—"</p><p>"I insist," Kaito interrupted before he held up a can of Pepsi. "I got my own."</p><p>"But—"</p><p>"And take it as an apology for me teasing you earlier, yeah?"</p><p>Aoko blinked a few times, this time in surprise, but when Kaito raised an eyebrow at her, just urging her to accept, she let out a smile. "Oh, fine."</p><p>"All right, see you later in class, Nakamori-san," Kaito replied, his smile apparent as ever before he waved and walked away.</p><p>"Suspicious," Akako muttered as she narrowed her eyes.</p><p>"Huh?" Aoko asked, blinking this time in confusion. "What is?"</p><p>"Him. You. <em>Suspicious.</em>"</p><p>"<em>What?</em>" Aoko exclaimed before she toned down her voice when she realized others peered in her direction. "How was that suspicious? Kaito was just giving me a can of soda!"</p><p>Akako sighed. "Oh, never mind… So, are you going to spill the beans <em>now?</em>"</p><p>"What?" Aoko asked, blinking again, before she took a bite out of her deli sandwich.</p><p>"You know, tell us why you've been having sleeping problems." Akako paused, taking a bite of her rice from her boxed lunch. "Or did that slip your mind?"</p><p>"Oh… That."</p><p>"Yes, that," Akako deadpanned.</p><p>"Have you been staying up late studying?" Keiko asked, gathering some of her noodles in one grab with her chopsticks.</p><p>"No," Aoko replied as a frown grew on her face. Her gaze averted to her sandwich, and a part of her tried not to linger too much on her thoughts from last night. It wasn't as though she could just <em>tell</em> them how she had been feeling as of late, after all, and Aoko kept reminding herself that things will just pass.</p><p>"Akako and I are getting really worried about you, girl," Keiko said softly. "If you don't get enough sleep, your immune system will get weakened, and if you get sick—"</p><p>"<em>I'll be fine</em>," Aoko interrupted, her tone coming off more harshly than expected as the grip on her sandwich tightened, the sounds of the crumbs distinctively heard among the trio, despite the hustling and bustling and loud conversations heard throughout the cafeteria.</p><p>There was a long pause of silence, and it was enough to drive Aoko to the back of her thoughts from last night. Aoko tried to focus on her sandwich and <em>not</em> focus on the memories of what happened only a few months ago, yet it was enough for her to feel as though she was suffocating.</p><p>Aoko immediately felt something snap out of her thoughts, and she realized then that Keiko had gone next to her and hugged her.</p><p>"I'm sorry," Keiko muttered.</p><p>Aoko opened her mouth, wanting to say something, yet <em>nothing</em> came out. She then felt her hands forced to put down her sandwich and realized that Akako had grabbed her hands.</p><p>"We're just worried," Akako whispered. "That's all."</p><p>Finally, Aoko let out a smile. "I'm okay, really."</p><p>"You got to sleep on time, girl," Keiko said as she backed away, her arms still around Aoko.</p><p>"I know. I just have a hard time sleeping."</p><p>"Have you brought that up to your dad?" Akako asked, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>Aoko shook his head. "He's already so busy with work…and I don't want to worry him after what happened."</p><p>"We're <em>all</em> worried about you," Akako said, her grip tightening around Aoko's hands.</p><p>"I know," Aoko muttered. "I'll be okay. Really." Within seconds, she grinned. "Now, can we get back to eating? I'm still <em>starving.</em>"</p><p>Akako rolled her eyes in amusement as Keiko let out a laugh.</p><p>This was how it should be. As long as Aoko reminded herself of that, despite how difficult sleeping had been due to those haunting memories, it was enough for her to get through the day.</p><p>A thought occurred at the back of her mind that if her sleeping issues kept happening, despite her eyebags and the fact that she still felt awake and okay to continue working, she would have to check ways that could potentially help her.</p><hr/><p>Kazuha couldn't bring herself to walk straight to Heiji and ask for his help. Every time she thought of his face and remembered his words to her yesterday, she would clam up inside.</p><p>From her perspective, Heiji was an intelligent, well-known high school detective, who was most likely busy with <em>actual</em> criminal cases outside of school, so for her to ask him to help her was just… Well, for all she knew, he might think it was laughable.</p><p>It was already the end of the day, to her surprise, and there she was, heading out of the classroom with the rest of her classmates as many of them each headed to their after-school activities. Her eyes lingered on Heiji's head, who was surrounded by her peers who were in the kendo club. From what she could tell, he seemed pretty happy to be interacting with them.</p><p>Kazuha then averted her gaze downward, dragging her feet slowly as she tried to not overhear how excited everyone was, whether it was attending their after-school club or job or trying to talk with Heiji. She frowned as she approached her shoe locker, opened it, and put on her regular shoes.</p><p>Just as she shut the door to her shoe locker after putting her indoor shoes away, she heard someone's voice call out, "You're Toyama-san, right?"</p><p>Kazuha immediately froze, her eyes widening as she recognized that voice. She could recall his look of confusion from yesterday, and any remaining confidence that she had to ask for his assistance went out the window.</p><p>"Toyama-san?"</p><p>Kazuha sharply inhaled and let out a deep breath. Within seconds, she turned around to face Heiji, who had been standing right behind her. Kazuha momentarily got lost in his teal eyes before she caught the frown on his face. "Yes, Hattori-san?"</p><p>"I noticed that out of everyone from our class, you weren't heading to an after-school club," he replied, his gaze not faltering in the slightest. "Why is that?"</p><p>"I <em>used</em> to be part of a club."</p><p>"Why aren't you a part of that club anymore?"</p><p>Kazuha didn't want to respond. The only people she could think of who would want her off the team were one of <em>those</em> people. However, she didn't have any evidence, so saying it in front of Heiji would've been pointless. Finally, Kazuha stated calmly, "I have my reasons."</p><p>"So, it has nothing to do with what I overheard yesterday from the faculty office?"</p><p>"No," Kazuha lied, and the more she stared at Heiji, the more she tried to <em>not</em> look away from him to appear guilty.</p><p>"Really? Because I heard that both the kendo and aikido clubs were missing equipment and that <em>you </em>were the prime suspect and got kicked out from the aikido club as a result."</p><p>"I didn't steal any equipment!" Kazuha retorted immediately, and when Heiji's eyes narrowed, she felt her heart sink. This wasn't the Heiji she had known, but she should've expected as much. He had made it clear that he didn't remember her based on his reaction to the metal piece, and now that she thought about it, it was silly and laughable for her to think otherwise.</p><p>"Then, why does all the evidence point to you?"</p><p>"If I knew, do you think I'd be on my way home right now?" Kazuha exclaimed, growing flustered and shocked as every second of this conversation passed. When they continued to stare at each other, she felt her heart sink deeper than ever and could feel herself becoming defensive under his scrutiny. At that point, she felt like it wasn't worth telling him everything or even going to him for help if he was going to be just like <em>them</em>.</p><p>"Then, why haven't you already done something about it?"</p><p>Kazuha pursed her lips, staying silent. She wanted to leave, but her legs just wouldn't <em>move</em>. His gaze felt so judgmental that she felt as though she was at <em>their</em> mercy again, and it made her uncomfortable.</p><p>"It sounds like from your perspective, you were falsely accused," Heiji continued. "Not many people seem to be defending you."</p><p>Kazuha flinched.</p><p>"That's the part that I find strange. You were a part of aikido club for how long? A year, right? Since we're both second-year students. It doesn't make sense that no one has defended you, yet they've all made you out to be like some bad guy."</p><p>Kazuha let out a frustrated sigh, briefly shutting her eyes before opening them up again to look at him and frowning. "The people in my club never liked me."</p><p>Heiji stared at Kazuha for a few seconds, his gaze unfazed. "I see."</p><p>"I need to go," Kazuha said quickly, feeling uneasy under Heiji's gaze. His tone made it sound like he was onto something just from what she said—or worse, that he already knew about her from whatever rumors he heard from other students. As every second passed, she grew to become more and more uncomfortable around him.</p><p>"Toyama-san—"</p><p>"No, forget it," Kazuha interrupted, feeling a harshness that she never expected to come from her voice directed to Heiji. "I don't <em>need</em> your help, Heiji Hattori. I can solve this on my own."</p><p>There was a long pause between them as Kazuha stared at Heiji, hoping that the remaining confidence in her veins wouldn't falter.</p><p>"Fine," Heiji replied before he turned and walked away.</p><p>Kazuha let her gaze fall to the floor, still not daring to move as she heard Heiji's footsteps fade away. For a brief moment, she wondered if he was angry at her for not trying to find the culprit or her attitude.</p><hr/><p>To say that Shinichi was bored was an understatement. Teitan High School, as expected, didn't feel challenging to him. A part of him did miss his old school because it at least continuously gave him intellectually stimulating material that he could learn from daily and even apply to cases he was involved with.</p><p>Well, that, <em>and</em> he didn't have to deal with the constant squealing. He originally relished everyone recognizing his talents as a well-trained detective despite his current occupation and age, but it had gotten to the point where having fans <em>sometimes</em> impeded his investigations, such as his current one at Teitan High School.</p><p>Shinichi's screaming fangirls had followed him during lunchtime, so he couldn't go on his own to investigate. The last thing he needed was getting innocent people involved, after all. However, he figured he may as well use this to his advantage by learning some material from them. He was still new to Teitan and didn't know much about the school or inner workings of it, such as social statuses and whether there was even a class system. Then again, to his knowledge, this place shouldn't be like his previous school…</p><p>And now, here he was, at Poirot Café with one of his fangirls because he overheard during lunchtime that she was one of the journalists for the school newspaper club and a huge gossip. She even made it easier for him since she had asked him in private if she could hang out with him after school.</p><p>Shinichi finally glanced at her, who stared at him in awe.</p><p>"I can't believe <em>the</em> Shinichi Kudo is in front of me," she muttered.</p><p>"I'm definitely in front of you," Shinichi replied, which made her face flush red. "So, what was it you needed?"</p><p>"Oh, um, I just wanted to hear all the amazing cases you worked on!" she exclaimed as she smiled. "I'd like to include them in the school newspaper from your perspective."</p><p>Shinichi stared at her for a few seconds, pursing his lips before he closed his eyes. "I can't disclose anything about the cases I've worked on."</p><p>"But what about the ones that have already been released to the media?" she replied, pouting. "Can't you talk about those?"</p><p>"No, I can't," Shinichi replied, opening his eyes again.</p><p>She continued to pout, practically giving Shinichi puppy dog eyes this time.</p><p>Shinichi, however, didn't budge, and he stared at her with a nonchalant gaze for a few seconds before he sighed. "I know you want to hear about the cases I've worked on, but please understand that I can't talk about them out of privacy and respect for the victims, their families and loved ones, and everyone else who was involved."</p><p>She averted her gaze in guilt, and her shoulders slowly drooped. "I'm sorry, Kudo-san… I didn't think about that. I must've seemed insensitive to you, didn't I?"</p><p>"Not at all. You're not the first to ask. Besides, actual reporters are much worse than you are." Shinichi paused. "Speaking of which, I heard you're one of the journalists for our school newspaper?"</p><p>"Yup!" she exclaimed, her smile coming back ten-fold. "If it's any sort of news or gossip you need about anything going on at Teitan High School, I'm your girl!"</p><p>"Then, do you mind updating me on everything that's going on about Teitan? I just transferred, so everything is still pretty new to me."</p><p>"Sure! But only on <em>one</em> condition."</p><p>Shinichi raised an eyebrow in response.</p><p>"I get to interview you for our school newspaper!"</p><p>"Why?"</p><p>"To understand why you transferred to our high school, of course! Everyone's wondering why you transferred out of Shinsei Academy's Tokyo branch when Shinsei's one of the highest-ranking schools you could attend and be guaranteed to enter a top, competitive university!"</p><p>Shinichi had been expecting this to pop up at some point. A part of him wondered if Heiji and Kaito had already encountered this question themselves and if they even came up with a good excuse. Finally, Shinichi replied coolly, "I transferred because I wanted a change of pace from how things were at my old school. That's all."</p><p>The girl narrowed her eyes in skepticism. "Is that <em>really</em> it?"</p><p>"Yes, that's it. If you want to know that badly, you can check in with my old school—if you can get past those gates, of course."</p><p>The girl visibly flinched and looked away sheepishly in response.</p><p>Shinichi wasn't surprised to see that reaction. Shinsei Academy was the top academy for elementary, middle, and high schoolers throughout Japan, so many wealthy families always hoped for their children to enter the school. Furthermore, it had various campuses, or sometimes referred to as branches, throughout Japan, such as in Tokyo, Osaka, and Sapporo.</p><p>Shinsei Academy was known to be highly selective among applicants, and although they gained some criticism over this, it didn't change their ways. For people like Shinichi, Heiji, and Kaito, Shinsei Academy was a disguised haven from the rest of the world. Therefore, Shinsei Academy imposed strict rules about who could be allowed on campus. The ones who tried to sneak onto campus without permission, such as reporters and thieves, often suffered, one way or another.</p><p>"Are those all your questions?" Shinichi finally asked.</p><p>"Well, yes, mostly," the girl replied, pouting. "Could I still at least get the chance to interview you in the future?"</p><p>"As long as the interview won't ask anything too invasive or personal, then I don't see why not."</p><p>The girl smiled, her face brightening up immediately. "Really?! Oh, my gosh, thank you so much, Kudo-san! This will really boost our next edition for the school newspaper!"</p><p>Immediately, the girl started babbling about how she had to start coordinating everything with her teammates and took out her notebook to begin scribbling down her thoughts.</p><p>As Shinichi left her to her musings, he recalled an agency upstairs in the same building as the café and that the sign on the windows said <em>Mouri Detective Agency</em>. That name was the same surname as Ran, the girl he sat behind. Of course, even if the name sounded similar, there was a chance that she was not related at all.</p><p>"Hey," Shinichi said, grabbing the attention of the girl sitting across from him immediately. "I know you're busy planning right now, but do you mind if I ask you a few questions this time?"</p><p>"Not at all!" she replied, sitting back up and putting her pen down. "Ask away! I'll do my best to answer every single one of them."</p><p>"Well, is Ran Mouri related to the <em>Mouri Detective Agency</em> I saw upstairs when we were outside the café earlier?"</p><p>"Oh, yeah, but…" Her gaze slowly shifted away as she frowned, hesitating to continue.</p><p>Shinichi frowned upon noticing this. "But?"</p><p>"I…I wouldn't involve myself with her if I were you."</p><p>"Why?"</p><p>"I heard a lot of things about Ran Mouri a while back, like some really nasty stuff when she was still the captain of the karate club."</p><p>Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "Like?"</p><p>The girl frowned further, becoming peeved this time. "Why are you asking?"</p><p>Shinichi resisted the urge to sigh as he realized that based on her reaction and tone, she was jealous, but he had to get information from her one way or another, even if he had to tell a small white lie. "I'd like to know in case I ever need to partner up with a private investigator for any future cases I work with."</p><p>"Oh!" the girl said, her face now less peeved before she sighed in relief. "Well, in that case, yeah, she's the daughter of a private detective upstairs, but according to my sources, he's supposedly a deadbeat, poor excuse of one."</p><p>"What's his name?"</p><p>"Kogoro Mouri."</p><p>"I see… But you mentioned I shouldn't get involved with her?"</p><p>The girl's face became hesitant again, and after a few seconds of Shinichi staring at her, waiting patiently in response, she sighed in defeat. "From what I heard, a lot of the girls from the karate club disliked Mouri-san."</p><p>"Why? Wasn't she the captain?" Shinichi paused, taking a moment to reconsider what he had just said, and he furrowed his brow. "Wait a moment… She was the captain? That would mean she was a captain as a <em>first-year</em>."</p><p>The girl slowly nodded. "She was captain—probably the first captain ever to be a first-year student in our entire school. I remember a lot of commotion about it last year, but by the end of the school year, she quit the club, which is why she's not the captain anymore. A current third-year is the captain right now." She sighed. "Anyway, I really don't think you should get involved with her, Kudo-san. She's…not well-liked amongst most of the girls in our year for a lot of reasons."</p><p>"Why our year? I thought it'd only be amongst the girls in the karate club."</p><p>She smiled, much to her chagrin. "Word gets around among the sports clubs here, especially with how Mouri-san was during our first year. I'm one of the few girls who view Mouri-san neutrally and could try to understand where she was coming from. The only girl I know who's friends with Mouri-san is Suzuki-san. Suzuki-san is a good person, but I'm not sure why she hangs out with Mouri-san, despite all the bad rumors…"</p><p>Shinichi knew about Sonoko Suzuki and her background, such as the fact that she came from a well-known prestigious, successful family. If anything, he was curious as to why Sonoko was hanging out with Ran. At his old school, most students hung out with those who were in the same social classes as them, and to his knowledge, Sonoko was one of the only students at Teitan who came from a prestigious family. From Shinichi's perspective, seeing someone like Sonoko with that background hang out with someone like Ran was a nice surprise.</p><p>Shinichi pretended to ponder and let his gaze fall to his full cup of coffee, letting his brain process everything she had told him about Ran Mouri and her father, the supposed deadbeat private detective upstairs.</p><p>"Kudo-san?" the girl asked. "Do you have any other questions?"</p><p>Shinichi shifted his gaze back to the girl sitting across from him, who he knew began to grow curious as every second passed based on her body language. "No, I have no further questions. You told me everything I needed to know."</p><hr/><p>Kaito had done his share of snooping around the school, casually asking about Aoko Nakamori since she was the daughter of Inspector Nakamori.</p><p>Strangely enough, it seemed like whenever he tried to learn more about Aoko, especially when everyone remembered that she was Inspector Nakamori's daughter, they immediately clammed up. Surely, it should've been no surprise by now that she was his daughter because he found out that Aoko came here as a first-year, like many of the other students, and that he was the first transfer student in a long time.</p><p>Eventually, Kaito gave up for the day. He was never the sleuthing type, anyway, like Shinichi was. He was more of a mystery <em>creator</em>, not a mystery <em>solver</em>. If anything, it always ruined his fun whenever Shinichi figured out whatever Kaito came up with. Even now, Kaito felt like he was a total wet blanket.</p><p>Now, here Kaito was, at the downtown pharmacy after he insisted on making it up to Konosuke once he found out that Konosuke needed to buy a new pack of antihistamine—whatever the heck that was.</p><p>Kaito was already in the aisle meant for colds, but Konosuke described it as allergy medication. Eventually, Kaito squinted his eyes once he went to another aisle and let out a sigh.</p><p>Immediately, he froze just as he happened to make eye contact with the person that he least expected to see.</p><p>"Oh, Kuroba-san," Aoko said, blinking in surprise.</p><p>It took everything in Kaito to not groan at this coincidence, but he managed to let out a smile, even though he knew his charms wouldn't work. "Hey, Nakamori-san, I wasn't expecting to meet you here."</p><p>"Yeah, uh, me neither."</p><p>There was an awkward pause between them as Kaito evaluated her hesitant body language. Finally, his eyes landed on the products she was just looking at, and he raised an eyebrow. "You don't strike me as the type to take vitamins."</p><p>Aoko became startled and then backed away as if she just realized what she had been staring at this entire time. "What? No, I, uh, no, I was just…looking…"</p><p>In the back of his mind, Kaito knew he should just leave, but he also knew that if Shinichi were here, he'd get nagged at to try to investigate. If it was one thing Kaito knew he was always good at, it was making small talk with other people, regardless of their background. "So, has school been getting to you?"</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"You know, like studying," Kaito replied, shrugging casually, but still keeping the same smile on his face. "I mean, I know most people are already talking about preparing to apply for colleges."</p><p>"Oh… No, not really. School's been okay for me."</p><p>There was another long pause, this time one where she and Kaito stared at each other for a few seconds before she finally averted her gaze.</p><p>"Well, I think I'll get going now," Aoko said.</p><p>Kaito resisted the urge to frown. He hadn't realized that she would try to avoid small talk with him so soon.</p><p>"I'll see you at school tomorrow?" Aoko said, already beginning to walk away.</p><p>"Sure," Kaito replied, a smile still apparent on his face, turning up the charm, but as before, she was unaffected and smiled at him as usual before waving and walking away.</p><p>When Kaito was sure she had gone down the aisle and turned around the corner, his smile finally dropped, and he let out a sigh of relief.</p><p>Whatever Shinichi was planning with having Kaito attend the same school as the daughter of Inspector Nakamori, he didn't know, but he hoped that nothing would come of it from any further interactions with Aoko Nakamori and that this was the end of it for his sake.</p><hr/><p>It was already the next day, and Ran was walking with Sonoko to the school cafeteria, hoping that the line wasn't too long for her to buy food. Normally, she'd make herself lunch, but on the days she didn't, it was because she lost motivation to do so.</p><p>"Ran, you could've let me know in the morning to ask one of my cooks to make an extra lunch, you know," Sonoko said, holding up her lunch box as emphasis just before they walked through the cafeteria doors.</p><p>"I know," Ran muttered, her gaze stuck to the floor since she had arrived at school except during lectures.</p><p>Sonoko frowned, staying silent for a few seconds until she asked softly, "Did your dad leave this morning?"</p><p>Ran shook her head. "Last night. Real late at night, actually, when I was asleep."</p><p>"Work?"</p><p>Ran nodded. "That's what he says, but…he just came home the other day, so I don't understand <em>why</em> he needs to be back out there working again." Ran let out a long, heavy sigh, and thankfully, they walked close enough to the counter that Sonoko dropped the subject, so Ran could order.</p><p>"Hi, dear, what can I get you?" the lunch lady asked, smiling at Ran.</p><p>"One bowl of fried rice, please," Ran replied as she smiled, hoping her concern wasn't too obvious. Once she received her order and paid, she followed Sonoko to an unoccupied table.</p><p>After they sat down, Sonoko took off the top of her lunch box, preparing to eat. "Want me to come over after school to talk about it?"</p><p>Ran shook her head. "No, you already came over yesterday to help out—"</p><p>Sonoko then gasped, interrupting Ran and startling her. "We didn't get to go shopping!"</p><p>Ran blinked a few times in surprise. "Yeah, because we were both tired yesterday and had to do homework—"</p><p>"No, no, no, I mean, let's go shopping <em>today.</em> That'll cheer you up!"</p><p>"Uh, Sonoko, I'm not sure that'll help me at all."</p><p>"Fine, then shopping <em>and</em> bubble tea."</p><p>Ran pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes in amusement, pretending to ponder. "That's <em>very</em> tempting."</p><p>Sonoko grinned, and before she could reply, her eyes widened in surprise.</p><p>Ran furrowed her brow in confusion, wondering what drew Sonoko's attention, and just then, she felt a presence walk up and stand behind her.</p><p>"Excuse me."</p><p>Ran recognized that voice before she even turned around and looked up to see Shinichi. She pursed her lips, resisting the urge to frown when she could sense the glares from his fangirls across the room.</p><p>"May I sit with you and Suzuki-san?" Shinichi asked. "It'll only be for a moment."</p><p>"Uh…" Ran glanced over to Sonoko, who had a huge grin on her face, and she resisted the urge to sigh. "Sure, if you want."</p><p>"Thank you," Shinichi said before he sat down right next to Ran.</p><p>Immediately, Ran could <em>feel</em> the intensity of the glares directed toward her increase. When she glanced at Sonoko, who kept grinning and most likely scheming as she raised a knowing eyebrow, she sent a pointed look.</p><p>"I'll get straight to the point, Mouri-san," Shinichi said. "Do you have time after school today to hang out?"</p><p>Ran blinked, a blank look appearing on her face. Was…Was <em>the</em> Shinichi Kudo implying what she thought?</p><p>Shinichi, however, continued to look at her coolly.</p><p>Ran resisted the urge to grimace because she just <em>knew</em> that Sonoko was eating this up while all Shinichi's fangirls were most likely going to target her from this point forward.</p><p>"Mouri-san?" Shinichi called out, breaking Ran's train of thought.</p><p>Ran sighed. "No."</p><p>"Excuse me?"</p><p>"No, Kudo-san, I don't have time after school to hang out with you."</p><p>"Then, what about—"</p><p>"Or any other day, for that matter," Ran interrupted, her gaze not faltering as she stared at Shinichi. When his royal blue eyes seemed undeterred by her response, she added, "Look, Kudo-san, I know you're new here and probably trying to get to know everyone, but you're much better off asking one of your fangirls to hang out with."</p><p>Still, his gaze remained unfazed, and Ran resisted the urge to shudder. The way he <em>stared</em> at her… There was something behind that gaze of his that made her feel uncomfortable, and yet, his eyes just seemed to draw her in easily that it was difficult for her to pull away.</p><p>Finally, Shinichi closed his eyes and sighed. "I see."</p><p>Ran watched Shinichi open his eyes again and then stood up from the table, and when he finally looked at her, she resisted the urge to shudder from how uncomfortable she felt from the intensity of his gaze.</p><p>"I'll see you in class later, then?" Shinichi asked.</p><p>Ran blinked in surprise. "Uh, yeah, sure."</p><p>Shinichi nodded before he turned to Sonoko. "I'll see you in class later as well, Suzuki-san."</p><p>Sonoko nodded silently in response.</p><p>Without another word, Shinichi turned around and walked away, leaving the cafeteria, and his entourage of fangirls began to chase after him.</p><p>Ran blinked a few times as she furrowed her brow in confusion. "What…just happened?"</p><p>"You got asked out by Hottie McHotster, but turned him down?" Sonoko said, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>"Sonoko, he was <em>not</em> asking me out—"</p><p>"He invited you to hang out with him, and you turned him <em>down!</em> Girl, what's wrong with you? I even gave you the full okay to skip out on our shopping trip today!"</p><p>Ran groaned. "<em>Sonoko</em>, if I agreed, I'd become the target of his fangirls' hatred."</p><p>"So? You can kick their butts!"</p><p>"That's not the point I'm trying to get at. I mean, <em>yeah</em>, I can kick their butts, but that doesn't mean I <em>want</em> to. I have enough on my plate as it is already… The last thing I need is school stressing me out further than it already is."</p><p>Sonoko pouted. "Oh… Right. Sorry, Ran. I wasn't thinking that far ahead."</p><p>"It's okay." Ran then sighed. "Hopefully, this whole incident won't backfire on me…"</p><p>"If it does, they got Sonoko Suzuki to answer to," Sonoko said, narrowing her eyes as she put up two fists.</p><p>Ran couldn't help but laugh. "Yes. Yes, they do."</p>
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